Kentland, Is this place for real??

[Ross Johnson]

Yes Kentland is a real place and yes they do run that many calls. Kentland is a firefighting buffs wet dream as they get on average 10-20 calls a day(last week they ran 2 days over 30). It is not unsual for them to run 3-4 working fires in 24 hours. They sit near the DC line in a heavily populated area. The station is always manned with at least 4(usually around 8) and many of the members and live ins are Career firefighters with maryland area departments. And for all of you who still do not believe, go to there website www.kentland33.com and go to the live audio feed. They are company 33 with Tower 33 engine 331 332 minipumper 33. You should not have to listen long before you hear them going. You can hear how a proper communcations system should work with the full implementation of incident command. We have PG county on our scanner in our station and have the time its so busy we lock it out . Be safe!

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Gettysburg Fire Department (PA) FF/NREMT-B
Brookside Engine Company,Div of Mendham Twp Fire Dept(NJ) FF
Mendham Twp EMS EMT-B
These views are my own and do not reflect those of these departments

[This message has been edited by Ross Johnson (edited 11-27-2000).]

[TruroFAO]

I came across Kentland's website about 15 months ago when a followed a link from Hyatsville's website. No doubt, Kentland is among the best departments out there, volunteer or paid. I have a deep respect for lots of the volunteer departments in PG county, like Laurel, Kentland, Hyattsville and several others...It really takes a special breed to do that...Station 33 also has Engine 333, which is a rescue-engine, and I think I've been hearing an 'Engine 334'?

Skidz-
If memory serves, Montgomery County is relatively close to PG? Maybe not.. Anyway, I forget if I asked you in another thread, but how are things in Montgomery as opposed to PG?

Hats off to 33's....

Be safe...

[webteam]

Just a reminder to all forum members:

Personal attacks on other members for their opinions are not tolerated, especially when racial or explicit terms are used.

Several posts have been deleted from the thread. If this activity continues, it will be shut down.

Thank you
WebTeam

[Pete Lund]

On the topic of "is Kentland for real" -- let me say this. I have been a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years and an FDNY firefighter for over 27 years. Needless to say my background is diversified to say the least! Kentland (and P.G. County for the most part) is not your typical "home response" so put that out of your mind...no one is leaving work or home twenty or thirty times a day. Their live-ins are the backbone of this highly qualified and extremely competent department. There is very little that says "volunteer" about their operations either. About the only thing that says that this place is "volunteer" is the lettering on the sides of the trucks. Their fireground operation is as professional as ANY paid department in the country. The operations in P.G. County are unlike what you might expect to find even in the most sophiticated departments in the country and the Kentland people are truly unique -- their espirit de corps and aggressiveness are unparalleled in any place I have ever visited.

Is the website for real? You bet! And the great part about Kentland is that you will probably never find them bragging about themselves in a forum like this -- that is just not their style. They have people like me who have had the pleasure of being a guest there and seeing this place first hand to speak for them; a person who has no vested interest in the place other than that I am in awe of it...it is the kind of place that I wish I had learned about 20 years ago when I was still young and carefree!

Pete Lund
Lieut., FDNY, Rescue 2

Ex-Chief, Woodmere (NY) F.D.

[DED1645]

They are everything they say they are. It may be difficult to believe, but I guess it is one of those things that you have to see to believe. You all have the ability to listen to PG County live and listen to the activity. Come to your own conclusion from what you read and hear.

[This message has been edited by DED1645 (edited 11-29-2000).]

[jeffbogden]

Kentland is a group of guys you have to see/talk to to understand. I had the honor of taking a extrication class one of the chiefs and a FF helped teach. You can learn a lot from those guys, they carry the theory of"actions speak louder than words" Not braggarts by any means but very down to earth guys and professional in any sense fo the word...known all over for a very aggressive attitude and attack, Keep up the good work guys

[KVFD Volunteer]

Kentland is a place that you have to experience to know what goes on there. I am proud to say that I have made that experience and would not trade it for anything in the world. There are many dedicated people at Kentland and I am proud to be in the company of those people. Thanks to all the people for the continued support of the Kentland Volunteer Fire Dept.

[Adze]

I was just reading the history of the Kentland FD on its website and something popped into my mind. I was wondering how is their Fire Prevention there? They seem to have an awful lot of real fires (as opposed to false alarms). In my community, as part of our program we go to the elementary and middle school in our area. We are thinking about even going to the high school next year. We accredit a drop in the number of real fires we have to our Fire Prevention. For example, we used to get tons of brush fires every year. Now I can probably count on both hands the number of brush fires we have had over the last few years (including going to mutual aid calls).

[Im Lawnboy]

The truth about Kentland. Yes they do run alot of calls, and yes, they do catch a lot of fire.

1. The Members.
Many of PG County utilize live in members, as the whole concept of neighborhood members are dwindling. The Live Ins do run the majority of the calls. College Park, Branchville, Berwyn Heights, Hyattsville, and Chillum Adephi are all nearest to the University of Maryland at College Park campus.

2. The stations.
There are 2 Kentland stations.
33-the one they boast on their website, and
46-the one only heard about in the stats.
33 Is staffed by all volunteers. 46 Is staffed M-F 0700-1500 by a career staff of 6 Pg County Firefighters Paramedics, and the rest of the time by 3 Pg County firefighter paramedics.

3. The Units.
33- Runs 3 Engines, and sometimes a fourth from 46 if they have the staffing. A Tower, and a mini-pumper.
46- Runs 1 or 2 Engines, an Ambulance and an ALS Paramedic unit (PG County Staffed)

4. The call volume.
When counting stats, 33 includes 46's totals, including the ALS Medic unit and the ambulance.
Ask how many calls the Medic Unit and Ambulance alone run.
Ask how many times the Engine from 46 fails and the ambulance goes driver only (the career firefighter) while 33 is Triple Pulling.

5. Fires.
They do see fire, but not as much as people make it out to seem....there are times when they do catch a job returning from another job, but it is not a normal thing.

6. IAFF.
They are not picking solely on Kentland. PG Local 1619 is picking on all the volunteers in the county. Kentland is just showing the union they are not deterred by them, for this they should be commended.

7. First Due.
The USAir Arena is in 46's first due.
FedEX Field is in 33's first due.
Six Flags is not in their first due as their website says.

8. Location.
They are right outside of DC, where DC makes the right angle on the East side...follow it out like 5 miles east.

9. Actions.
I have not ran any calls with them, so I cannot comment on the quality of their work. I can, however say that one of their Captains was involved with a career firefighter in a fight, on a fireground!

They are fast! When getting on a firetruck, they waste no time. This is commendable as well.

Is Kentland the most professional Volunteer Department?
Since most of Kentland's members are Professional firefighters in neighboring departments, this statement may be accurate? I don't think so though. I urge you to make your own decisions though based on first hand accounts.

Is Kentland a better Fire Department?
Since the same live-ins run the majority of the fires that Kentland runs, this would make them more proficient in their duties. Better, is left to be determined by who you are measuring them against. We all do the same job.

[This message has been edited by Im Lawnboy (edited 11-29-2000).]

[Jake295885]

Lawnboy, Thanks for your fairly accurate assessment of best of the volunteer's bravest but, you've got your facts wrong on the amount of activity. i.e. runs.
Engine Co 33 ran 6584 runs for 1999 and was the busiest in the country.
Engine Co 46 was 4th busiest in the county with 2034 runs in 1999. Tower Co. 33 did 1347 in 1999. As you can see if the runs from 33 & 46 were combined they would be 9991 runs for kentland not counting the 2693 runs for 46's ambulance.

As for the question on prevention. Kentland is located in a poverty stricken neighborhood and has a large minority population. These are just two of many sociatial factors that guarantee a large amount of fire duty. Thats true anywhere in this Nation. The fire house has a cornerstone placed in 1959 listing four basic values the the department still holds dear to this day. 1. Prevention 2. protection 3. Progress 4. service

Tell me how many fire departments were even thinking of prevention in 1959.......Enough said..............Jake

[Corvin]

Jake
Its not really clear to me how anyone is really tallying calls up on this subject. For example when the Engine and the Truck in my career station both go on a structure call we don't count it as two runs. Only one.
The Kentland page show 1998 runs of 5519 with 2651 EMS calls included. Are those numbers the total number for the whole Kentland Fire Department including both stations or are they just station 33's?

Either way it does sound like a strong number of calls for volunteers to pull, but I agree with your point that Service is the real goal and number of times the pager goes off doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the "level" of service, only the number of times service is requested.

It comes across loud and clear on Kentland's web page that the administration of PG County and the position of paid firefighter are not held in esteem. Yet in the PG Fire Chief letter posted he commends their dept noting Kentlands ability to consistently staff with volunteer crews.

I am sure that Kentland FF's are among our nations finest but I would be more impressed with them without the emphasis on call counting or their status as non-paid firefighters.

[DED1645]

If their call volume continues at the rate it is they are most likely to exceed 6000+ calls this year. They had a bar graph that showed in comparison of last years runs. Again come to your own conclusion about them. But you really have to see it to believe it. The now are back on-line with their comminucations. Use the link in the site and listen. If that isn't proof enough to how busy they are then take a trip there and see for yourself.

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David DeCant
Firefighter/NREMT-P
New Jersey, USA
Career or volunteer we are all brothers. Just feel good for the good you do for others.

[This message has been edited by DED1645 (edited 11-30-2000).]

[Im Lawnboy]

Fairly accurate account Mr Jake?

Well...in 1998, according to http://www.kentland33.com
Kentland ran 5,519 calls.
Tis can be viewed at http://www.kentland33.com/runstats.htm

This counts every piece on a call as one call...i.e. Engine 331, Engine 332, Tower 33, Chief 33 counts as 4 calls.

5,519 calls surely does not make them the busiest departmentin the nation, does it?

And as for your claim from 1999, In the October 2000 issue of Firehouse Magazine, in the Independent Volunteer run survey, Kentland suggests they ran over 17,000 calls. Now Mr Jake claims the supression pieces ran approximately 10,000...so where are the other 7,000 that make Kentland the busiest VOLUNTEER department? You will find those statistics with the Career staffed ALS Parmamedic unit and the BLS Ambulance, both from station 46, which as I mentioned before, is only referred to on the website in stats.

Maybe a recount is needed?

Also, for those who would like to see another opinion of the Busiest Volunteer Fire Department in the nation, i urge you to look at http://www.olg.com/waldorfvfd/index2.html
Waldorf, Maryland. They operate out of 3 stations, and EVERY STATION IS STAFFED 100% 24-7 BY VOLUNTEERS. They do not let pride get in the way of letting their other stations fail to respond because they all want to be at one station. People do not hear much about Waldorf, they are a very humble department. The do not fight on firegrounds or boast their numbers all over the place.

[This message has been edited by Im Lawnboy (edited 11-29-2000).]

[daysleeper47]

LOLOLOLOL,.....Lawnboy, did you even open up the Waldorf site? In big, bold letters and numbers is the number of runs for 1998 and 1999. Right under the words, "Waldorf Fire Department" How can you say that they don't boast when that is the thing that hits you in the face when you open their site?

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Joe
Daysleeper47
"When the bell goes ding-ding, its time to get on the woo-woo."
"Dusting desire - starting to learn. Walking through fire with out a burn..."

[Jake295885]

Lawnprincess,

Do you work as a lawyer for al gore or a cigarette girl for local 1619?

The question as I understood it was about the web site. Kentland 33. 46 may have their own site I don't know, and I have no idea about the staffing problems but i'm just an old guy with fond memories of going into places you and your kind wet your pants on........Or the broken air-pack gig

Firehose list depts and that would include 46 wouldn't it? The claim to the busiest vol. eng is just that.......33 If I said dept forgive my fax pas........

When I lived in PG 20 years ago 46 was out in farm country, I know its now built up out there and they should be a kick-butt hose company........

I know for a fact each piece of apparatus doesen't fill out a report or count for a run.

And the tower runs would be higher if they didn't run the wheels off it and when it breaks the county wouln't give up a spare with-out an act of council..............

Yes the anamosity is high but its fueled by a county that doesen't appreciate the vollys and the cost savings they provide....................

P.S. I'd love to meet with you and discuss this more.................Jake