Outage of Baltimore fire suppression apparatuses is a "major public safety crisis," city firefighters' union says

The Baltimore City Firefighters' Union says as many as 10 fire suppression apparatus were out of service at the end of last week, calling it a major public safety problem.

As of Monday afternoon, five apparatuses remain sidelined. The union says fewer units on the street means slower response times to calls for service.

"If a unit is down, that's taking a longer response time for somebody to get there and that's unacceptable," Matthew Coster, president of IAFF Local 734, said. "When we have that many companies that are out of service from mechanical issues, and we don't have reserves to back them up, it's very frustrating and concerning for us."

The union said this impacts about 40 firefighters who were reassigned to other companies to fill vacancies while their apparatus was repaired.

In a social media post last week, the union called on city leaders to do more to keep apparatus on the streets. 

"Our city is facing a major public safety crisis," the post read. 

The union said units across the city, including engines, ladder trucks and squad vehicles, were out for mechanical repairs. Repairs that at one time took a few days to fix now take weeks or months because parts or mechanics aren't available.

"If those units aren't able to respond to emergencies, then you're going to be waiting a little bit longer for another unit to come from another area, or they would transfer someone into that house to try to cover that area, but then they would be taxed with covering a bigger area," Coster added.

The union told WJZ it is worried that additional units, because of their age, could go out at any time. It says prior administrations in city hall fell behind on replacing apparatus that is aging out of service. New units should cycle in every 10 years.

The city has ordered newer apparatus, but it is waiting for it to be delivered. It is also working on a more streamlined process to maintain the fleet and is hiring new mechanics to keep equipment in service.

"We're trying to get it so that there aren't as many apparatus out at the same time," Councilwoman Odette Ramos said. "During the budget hearing, we heard from the fleet management folks that they're working on staffing up, so the commitment is there to make it all happen."

The city fire department said only eight apparatus were out of service over the weekend, which includes eight engines and two ladder trucks.

In a statement, the Baltimore City Fire Department said all active units remain ready to respond in the event of an emergency.

"This weekend, six BCFD engines and two ladder trucks were out of service. The companies and personnel assigned to those units remained open and on duty, maintaining the resources to fully respond to calls for service.  As of today, three of the engines have been reactivated. BCFD continues to effectively manage its primary mission of keeping Baltimore safe and protected, and all active units remain ready to immediately respond in the event of an emergency or catastrophic incident citywide," the statement read.