Fire and Rescue Volunteer Recruiting Station Is First In Country

Newly Opened MCVFRA Recruiting Station

Since 1922, the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association (MCVFRA) has been without a home. If you wanted to volunteer, you could call a hotline or a leader, but there was no central place to learn about the possibility of serving your community through one of the 19 separate, independent, fire and rescue corporations. When potential volunteers visited fire stations, career firefighters weren’t always able to direct them to the right source. All this has changed.

After looking for over two years for an appropriate space, MCVFRA opened a Recruiting Station in the heart of Rockville at 230 North Washington Street. Highly visible in the Town Center and centrally located in the County, the brand new Station acts as its own billboard to the community. In addition to the 1000 square foot Station on street level, the space includes 1500 square feet of offices on the 4th floor.

Executive Director Eric N. Bernard explained the Station is the first in the Country for recruiting volunteers and it’s working:

Our numbers are going up. They’re bucking a national trend. Since Memorial Day we have a couple of people a day stopping by. We’re receiving 10 to 12 applications a week.

The need for volunteers is never ending. Most serve for 3 to 5 years. Changing life situations create a revolving door. Volunteers get married or go to school. There’s always a need and this volunteer job takes a great deal of dedication.

Buddy Sutton and Eric Bernard

Board member Buddy Sutton from Laytonsville is an exception. He credit his 27 years of service to a “willingness to help people”. Many of the men in his family volunteered and he followed their lead. At first he only wanted to drive and serve on the fire truck but then he saw the opportunity to be a line officer. Volunteering can be fulfilling and help develop broader leadership skills:

If you want to be the best, you can do it.

The Cab Inside the Building

The Recruiting Station includes the front cab section of a real fire truck and soon the lights will be working. Two large screens show recruiting videos and fire scenes. Recruits can try on a full set of gear and attach a hose to a fire hydrant. The Station gives a recruit a feel for the job as well as the chance to speak with a volunteer about what it’s really like.

Young recruit

The office space on the upper floor allows for the storage of files and data on the number of volunteer hours logged, which can now be routinely collected. The space was necessary to provide an office for a new Recruitment and Retention Coordinator. MCVFRA received a four-year federal SAFER (Staffing Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant which enabled the Association to hire Jason Goldberg full-time.

Mr. Bernard summed up the meaning of volunteering with MCVFRA:

It’s all about tradition, service and honor.

Over 90% of the volunteer fire and rescue workers live in Montgomery County. These men and women are dedicated to our community because they live in our community. They spend their time helping neighbors when the worst happens.

The “boot camp for volunteers” is a nine-week basic training course with a full graduation ceremony. Held on Friday nights from 6:30 until 11:30 PM, the training covers EMT, driving, trucks, officers … everything.

If you’re interested in volunteering, stop by the Recruitment Station or call the hotline at 301-942-0100. As it says on the banner in the window “Heroes Needed”.

House Fire Injures Three

>

An early morning fire gutted this home on Balmoral Court.

View Balmoral Court in a larger map

WUSA9 is reporting that two residents and a firefighter were injured when a fire which started in a second floor bedroom around 6:30 AM this morning destroyed this house. All the injuries were not serious.

Fire At Bombay Bistro On W. Montgomery Ave.

>

While I was at a community event in Rockville Town Center this afternoon, I heard about a fire nearby and went to check it out.

The very popular Indian restaurant, Bombay Bistro, was burning. The overall structure itself appeared in OK shape, but there were at least three engines that I could see and it appeared that fire fighters might have been preparing to go in through the roof.

If anyone has more information, please post it in the comments.

Here are my photos:

View Bombay Bistro in a larger map

Man Dead; Three Firefighters Injured In Weekend Twinbrook Blaze

A Twinbrook apartment blaze early Sunday morning claimed the life of the apartment resident and put three Montgomery County Fire and Rescue firefighters in the hospital.>

According to STATter 911 and WUSA, at about 1:00 am firefighters were called to 12819 Twinbrook Parkway, a garden apartment, to find the building ablaze with residents still inside. The apartment building has four units on the second floor and four on the first. Firefighters Captain R. Dwayne Dutrow, James Heikka, and Mark Mechlin entered Apartment 203, where the floor collapsed almost entirely, spilling them a floor below into Apartment 103, where the blaze began.

That apartment’s resident, Timothy Moran, himself the son of a former Silver Spring firefighter, was found dead. The fire is believed to have been accidental.

The configuration of the building places the first floor about 14 feet above ground level at the rear, where the firefighters were. Dutrow and Heikka were able to exit through a window and fall to the ground below. Firefighter Mechlin, though trapped under a piece of furniture, still had hold of a firehose and continued spraying water toward the window until he was rescued.

(In the photo, firefighters fell from the top to the middle floor, and escaped through the narrow window in the middle.)

All three firefighters were taken to Washington Hospital Center. Mechlin was released Monday afternoon. The other two have left ICU and late yesterday were in “fair” condition.

According to STATter 911:

[Timothy] Moran’s body was found in the same apartment where the firefighters landed. Montgomery County investigators say the fire started in that apartment and is believed to be accidental. According to Moran’s family he is the son of a former firefighter from Silver Spring, Charles K. Moran. The family has asked that donations be made in the names of the injured firefighters to HEROES, Inc.

Our condolences go to Moran’s family, and our best wishes for recovery go to the heroic firefighters.

(Image of rear of apartment from WUSA and STATter 911.)