By Sherry Greenfield
Baltimore Sun
CARROLL COUNTY, Md. — Christmas morning for firefighters and paramedics in Carroll County might not be so merry if they’re forced to work additional hours due to staffing shortages.
That is the message the Board of Carroll County Commissioners heard at their meeting Thursday, in a report that touched on the importance of retention and recruitment within the county’s Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
Rick Baker, chairman of the Carroll County Emergency Services Advisory Council, updated commissioners on the issues facing the department, including attracting and keeping firefighters and paramedics to staff the county’s 14 companies. With fewer volunteers, paid staff members are needed to pick up the slack.
The advisory council includes representatives from fire and EMS, as well as residents and officials who are tasked with reviewing policies and providing input on department issues.
Baker said ESAC supports Chief Michael Robinson’s request to fill 12 positions with funding in the county’s fiscal 2026 operating budget.
“Staffing is always going to be a problem, it’s always going to be an issue,” Baker said. “People get hurt, people get sick, people need time off, that’s why ESAC supports Chief Robinson’s request for those additional 12 positions that were not funded last year. While we’re coming up on the holiday season there’s somebody whose planning on getting off work on Christmas morning but might be held over because we need staffing.
“And everybody knows that’s part of the job, and we understand that, but having these additional positions will help immensely with that chore, and to cut down overtime, and trying to ensure that the work-life balance of our employees is better than what it is today.”
District 1 Commissioner Joe Vigliotti questioned whether recruitment and retention within the department is still an issue.
Robinson, who added his insight to the ESAC report, described the situation as “stable,” but concerning.
“In the last three weeks we’ve lost four people,” Robinson said. “Those four people have all gone to other agencies. They’ve been hired because they believe they’ve got bigger opportunities.
“Currently, we have nine people who started two weeks ago,” he said. “We lost two of those people during the two-week orientation. Quite frankly we’re better off for those people to self-identify that this job is not for them before we get them too far in the job and depend on them for staffing.
“We’re currently today finishing up some testing, so we’ll be doing some conditional offers for 16 people that will start on the second of January,” he said. “We’ll be staffing the New Windsor station with 12 people across four shifts.”
Robinson said the remaining two stations that need staffing, Union Bridge and Lineboro, should be staffed by the end of February.
“Adding 12 more people will give us six per shift to handle the overflow,” Robinson said. “One of the things that you can never plan for, and this is a job where there’s a lot of occupational hazards, we currently have six people on long-term modified duty. Two of those people are getting surgery.”
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There is a need for supervisory positions at several stations, Baker said. Currently only three stations – Mount Airy, Westminster and Sykesville – have lieutenants supervising each shift.
“The other stations are without any kind of lieutenant or supervision,” Baker said.
Pay is also an issue when recruiting personnel.
“ESAC also makes a recommendation that we think that the department needs to look at pay scales,” Baker said. “Other jurisdictions that are around us, and I’m not trying to compare Carroll County to the other jurisdictions, because I know that we can’t do that with everything. However, those folks that fulfil those firefighter and paramedic positions in surrounding counties have pay scales they can look at where they can see in out years how much money they could be making. They can see, if they aspire to be in a different rank or position, that this is how much money they could potentially be making. It would be a good thing for us to be able to do the same thing.
“Again, looking out for the employees to give them information and capabilities that are aligned with their peers in other jurisdictions, to have this opportunity,” Baker said. “This is a main concern for the current employees, and it could potentially be a retention issue.
“Again, this is more information for you guys to make decisions and to understand where we’re coming from when we talk about recruitment and retention,” he said.
Commissioners made no final decisions on Thursday, but said they appreciated the information.
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