Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department
Our Mission
The Fire/EMS Department strives to improve the quality of life in Prince George’s County by promoting safety, and providing the highest quality of fire prevention, fire protection, emergency medical services, and community outreach programs.
Back to Top
Our Vision
The actions of the Fire/EMS Department will be guided by an understanding of the needs of our customers, while we ensure the highest commitment to safety, professionalism, integrity, and care.
Back to Top
Our Code of Ethics
As A Representatives Of The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department;
We acknowledge that our three fundamental duties are to serve this community; to safeguard lives and property; and to respect the rights of all.
We understand and hereby recognize and commit that our actions must always remain above reproach;
- We will remain honest in thought and deed in both personal and official life, and commit that we will strive to conduct our private affairs in a wholesome manner;
- We will be exemplary in obeying the laws of the land and the regulations of this Department;
- We will never permit personal feelings, prejudices, animosities or friendships to influence our decisions;
- We will be constantly mindful of the welfare of others, and;
- We will never act maliciously or resort to unnecessary force or violence in the performance of duties.
Should information of a confidential nature be confided in the course of our duties, such information will be kept in confidence unless its revelation is deemed to be absolutely necessary to fulfill our obligation.
We recognize that being permitted to be a part of this organization is both an honor and an expression of public faith. We openly accept this honor as a public trust, to be held only so long as we remain true to the ethical and moral values of the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department.
Back to Top
Prevention and Planning Over Response
As important as our response capabilities are to the protection of the eight hundred plus thousand residents of Prince George’s County, nothing can be more important to the well-being of our community than the prevention of fires, accidents and illnesses before they occur. We do this by focusing our attention on educating our communities on the following topics;
- How to make their homes safer from the dangers of fire,
- The importance of home protection devices, such as smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and residential sprinklers
- Proper planning for natural and manmade disasters, including emergency supplies, how to shelter in place, and when and how to evacuate when told to do so
- How to avoid needless injuries
- How to monitor and make lifestyle changes to prevent or manage long-term illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Back to Top
Our Organizational Structure
We currently enjoy a complement of over seven hundred twenty uniformed career personnel, staffing a total of forty-four community based fire and rescue stations, two administrative facilities, two support facilities and a Fire/EMS training academy, and nearly eighty non-uniformed employees who perform fire inspections, maintain our fleet, present educational programs to our community and provide administrative support to all of our functional areas. Additionally, we count nearly eleven hundred active volunteer personnel among our ranks.
Back to Top
Our Community Based Fire/Rescue Personnel And Facilities
To ensure the best operational control of our resources deployed throughout the county, we apportion our Department into seven community response areas, which we refer to as “battalions”. Each battalion operates like a smaller fire department within the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department, and includes up to seven fire rescue stations. This operational model provides each of the communities we serve with a stronger level of accountability and attention to local needs and issues.
- BATTALION ONE serves all communities in the general vicinity of Capitol Heights, Landover and Largo.
- BATTALION TWO serves all communities in the general vicinity of New Carrollton, Lanham, Bowie and Glenn Dale.
- BATTALION THREE serves all communities in the general vicinity of District Heights, Hillcrest Heights and Forestville.
- BATTALION FOUR serves all communities in the communities in the general vicinity of Langley Park, Chillum, Brentwood, College Park and Riverdale.
- BATTALION FIVE serves all communities in the general vicinity of Accokeek, Camp Springs and Oxon Hill.
- BATTALION SIX serves all communities in the general vicinity of Laurel, Greenbelt, Beltsville, and Berwyn Heights
- BATTALION SEVEN serves all communities in the general vicinity of Upper Marlboro, Clinton and Baden.
Our busiest service areas are located within Battalions one, three and five, which includes the area commonly bordered by the District line to the west, Central Avenue to the north, the Capitol Beltway to the east, and Allentown Road to the South. These areas represent better than sixty percent of our total calls for service, as they contain the highest population densities.
Back to Top
Delivering Emergency Medical Care
Our Emergency Medical response capabilities are structured into two tiers of service; Basic Life Support, and Advanced Life Support. Basic life support is delivered through a fleet of over forty ambulances, which are staffed and deployed in nearly all of our fire/rescue stations. Advanced life support is delivered primarily by 12 paramedic units, which are strategically deployed throughout the county. These units are comprised of two-person teams with enhanced medical training who are able to deliver advanced cardiac care, and intravenous medications under the direction of a control physician.
This service was recently enhanced by the addition of paramedic ambulances and engines in the Capitol Heights, District Heights and Chillum communities. In Paramedic Ambulances and Engines, one person with advanced medical training augments the basic response crew, affording the ability to deliver advanced care prior to the arrival of the paramedic unit. Our goal is to expand this program to other communities throughout the County in the coming year.
Back to Top
Answering Your Call for Service
When a citizen calls 9-1-1, that call is routed through a joint emergency dispatch center for police and fire located in Capitol Heights. The call taker records vital information from the caller, including type of incident, location, number of people who are believed to be injured, and type of injuries.
From this information, a dispatch supervisor makes the decision on what personnel and apparatus will be needed to safely render aid and resolve the incident. The call is dispatched via computer and radio to our response crews, who may be either located in their stations, or already on the road returning from other assignments.
For an automobile accident, we would dispatch an engine company consisting of four or more firefighters, a basic ambulance staffed by two. Depending on the severity of the incident, we may also dispatch a “special service” unit that carries advanced rescue tools, referred to as a “battalions heavy rescue squad”. On a severe incident, we also dispatch a paramedic unit, staffed by two advanced life support trained personnel. All of these units are selected from the closest Fire/EMS stations to the incident with adequate staffing. For a fire in an apartment, we would dispatch a total of four fire engine companies from four separate Fire/EMS stations close to the incident, accompanied by two ladder companies, and a rescue squad.
Back to Top |
Survey 
Site Questions 
Contact Us 
Printer Version 
Business 
