Six months after its opening, Northview Fire Station 816 was under review by the Bowie City Council at the most recent city hall meeting, Sept. 27. First up on the Agenda was to review a report from the Prince George's County Fire Department on the calls for service statistics and public safety impact of the Northview Fire Station 816, recently opened on Health Center Drive, across from Bowie Town Center.

Major Richard Lambdin and Acting Lieutenant Colonel Tyrone Forby of the Prince George's County Fire & EMS Department gave a presentation on the first six months of operation, and addressed the Station Level Supervision of Advanced Life Support (ALS) Transport Units.

The Bowie Volunteer Fire Department was also on hand to voice their concerns over newly implemented changes through the Sept. 2, 2010 memorandum.

Lambdin and Forby's findings from response time date show improvement since 2006. Councilwoman Geraldine Valentino-Smith noted longer BLS response time by an estimated 30 seconds and questioned understaffing issues. The council commended the hard work of PGCFD, and on working well together with Bowie Volunteer Fire Department to keep the City of Bowie safe.

The council also expressed concern that the Northview station is the only Advanced Life Support capable station. Specifically, if the only ALS unit at station 816 is out on a Basic Life Support response, there are concerns they won't be able to compensate for the shortage. 

The second order of business focused on emergency preparedness progress for the City of Bowie since the Maryland Municipal League Hometown Emergency Preparedness Committee's HEPAC, published the Elected Officials Emergency Preparedness Guide as outlined in the September 21, 2010 Memorandum.

The Guide outlines 9 responsibility management areas:

• Identifying and assessing potential hazards.
• Developing emergency operations plans and procedures.
• Training personnel.
• Conducting drills and exercises to test plans.
• Working among levels of government, volunteer agencies and the private sector to ensure that all understand their roles and responsibilities during disaster response.
• Providing critical information to the public before, during and after a disaster occurs.
• Facilitating mutual aid.
• Administering disaster assistance programs.
• Providing overall coordination for disaster response.

Emergency Management Consultant Gary Goldman indicated an 8 month timeline and cost range of $150K-$250K estimate to implement drills and exercises to test plans.  Goldman also recommends 2-3 tabletop, or functional exercises per year.

Council became uneasy of the price tag, and City Manager David J. Deutsch weighed in, "Council now seems to fully understand the magnitude of emergency preparedness and though expensive, necessary."

Councilman Isaac Trouth comments included praise for Hometown Emergency Preparedness Committee for how well the City of Bowie will be in the event of an emergency, but noted that good can be better.

The council ended with sentiments that there is still work to be done, but that the City of Bowie and its services for the community, are headed in the right direction.