Description
- You are protected by an all volunteer fire service and a combination paid/volunteer EMS service of 175 men and women.
- With nearly 8,000 fire and EMS emergency responses a year the BAVFC is not only the busiest volunteer company in Harford County but one of the busiest in Maryland.
-We respond to approximately 22 fire and EMS emergency calls per day.
-All of the BAVFC fire officers have an average experience time in the fire service of 18 years.
-All of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company fire officers meet or greatly exceed the nationally recognized standards for fire officer training - some hold Fire Engineering and Fire Science degrees. - -All officers are required to take continuing education each year to maintain their elected position. - Each officer responds to over 400 calls a year with some in excess of over 1,400 calls per year . -Ap proximately 25% of all of our fire members are firefighters in career/paid departments in Baltimore Co, Baltimore City, AA County, Howard County, Washington DC, APG, Perry Point, and Fort Meade, BWI and Dulles/National Airports. Some are also officers within those departments. - When these members leave their 40+ hour a week job at their career firehouse, they come home and do it a whole lot more- this time for free. - One of our members is a retired Baltimore City Fire Captain who has been chosen to lead a fire service in Iraq while another member is an Operations Chief for the Naval Fire Department. -We are currently planning to construct 2 new substations; one on Route 543 near Thomas Run Road and the other on Patterson Mill Road next to the Patterson Mill School Complex.
- As far back as our statistics go (close to 100 years) we find no record that this fire department has ever failed to respond to a fire call.
-It is important for you to note the amount of time it takes us to get to your house. We are well below the national average. These times are for all calls including non-emergency responses and responses in which the travel distance may be > 15 miles. Average dispatch time to respond time: 1.50 minutes
Average travel time: 4.48 minutes
Average alert/dispatch time to arrive time: 5.98 minutes
Average number of persons per call: 24.47 (all calls) Average number of persons per call: 34.93 (structure fire alerts) Average personnel on 1 st unit responding: 5.8 It is important to understand there are areas in Harford County in which Bel Air units respond to assist other fire departments that are in excess of 20 miles! In addition our s taffing is higher than any career / paid department in the Baltimore Metro area. These manpower numbers help us eclipse the standards established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for both deployment of volunteer fire departments and standards for deployment of career (paid) fire departments in areas within 3 miles of the main station. In addition take a look at just our in district response times. Average dispatch time to respond time: 1.58 minutes Average travel time: 3.93 minutes Average alert to arrive time: 5.50 minutes We do what we do for free. Our training is the same, or in many cases higher, and the certifications are identical to a paid/career individual. This is a job, a very serious one, where our lives depend on each other and your lives depend on us.
