Scanning Howard County Fire and Rescue

The Department of Fire & Rescue Services (DFRS) provides fire, rescue, and emergency medical services in the county. DFRS serves a very diverse area, ranging from agricultural area in the northwest corner of the county, to a sprawling industrial area in the southern part of the county, thick residential and bustling commercial areas in the center of the county, as well as large volumes of interstate traffic that flow through the county via I-95, I-70, and US-1.

In 2004, DFRS responded to 26,630 emergency incidents. With Howard County’s ever expanding population, this number continues to grow every year. Mutual aid agreements with adjoining Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Montgomery, and Prince George’s (PG) counties only add to this expanding call volume. Three of Howard County’s stations spend enough of their time in PG County for example, that they have been given their own PG county station designations: Savage is designated in PG as station 70, Rivers Park is PG station 71, and Scaggsville is PG station 72.

DFRS is a combination department, made up of both paid county employees and volunteers. There are four county stations (7, 9, 10, 11) staffed by county employees and a handful of county volunteers, and seven volunteer stations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8) owned and run by six volunteer corporations (Elkridge VFD, Ellicott City VFA, Fifth District VFD, Lisbon VFC, Savage VFC, and West Friendship VFA) staffed by corporate volunteers and supplemented by county employees. There also exists two "virtual" stations: Station 18 is the Howard County Training Academy, and Station 19 is the Community Relations Unit, which also runs out of the Training Academy. Additionally, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel runs its own industrial fire service that responds into Howard County as Station 20.

Each of the eleven main stations are assigned to one of two battalions. Stations 1, 6, 9, 10, and 11 are assigned to the first battalion. Stations 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 are assigned to the second battalion. Each battalion also includes a battalion chief in charge of overall operations of the battalion, and a medical duty officer (MDO) who oversees EMS operations in the battalion.

Howard County runs eleven front-line engines, eleven front-line Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances, and eight pieces of apparatus classified as special services: four aerials, three rescue squads, and one rescue engine which can run as a rescue squad. There are numerous other engines and ambulances which may be in service at any given time depending on available staffing. Additionally, most apparatus in the county is capable of being staffed by an ALS provider, such as a paramedic, carrying the necessary EMS equipment enabling the apparatus to respond to any medical call.

Following is a breakdown of Howard County fire stations and the apparatus they contain:

Headquarters 6751 Columbia Gateway Dr., Columbia 21046

Station 1 - Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department
6275 Old Washington Rd., Elkridge 21075

• Engine-11
• Engine-13
• Paramedic-15
• Ambulance-16
• Brush-18
• Squad-1*

Station 2 - Ellicott City Volunteer Firemen's Association
4150 Montgomery Rd., Ellicott City 21043

• Engine-21
• Engine-22
• Paramedic-25
• Ambulance-26
• Brush-27
• Rescue Squad-2*
• Battalion Chief-2
• EMS-2

Station 3 - West Friendship Volunteer Firemen's Association
12460 Frederick Rd., West Friendship 21794

• Engine-31
• Engine-32
• Engine-34
• Paramedic-35
• Ambulance-36
• Brush-37
• Tanker-3
• Tower-3

Station 4 - Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company
1330 Route 94/Woodbine Rd., Lisbon 21765

• Engine-41
• Engine-42
• Engine-43*
• Engine-44
• Paramedic-45
• Brush-47
• Brush-48

Station 5 - Fifth District Volunteer Fire Department
5000 Signal Bell Lane, Clarksville 21029

• Engine-51
• Engine-52
• Engine-54
• Paramedic-55
• Ambulance-56
• Brush-57
• Dive-5
• Rescue-5*
• Tanker-5

Station 6 - Savage Volunteer Fire Company
8925 Lincoln St., Savage 20763

• Engine-61*
• Rescue Engine-62*
• Paramedic-65
• Ambulance-66
• Brush-68
• Truck-6

Station 7 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Banneker Station)
5815 Banneker Rd., Columbia 21044

• Engine-71
• Parmedic-75
• Brush-77
• Tower-7*

Station 8 - Ellicott City Volunteer Firemen's Association
9601 Route 99, Ellicott City 21042

• Engine-81
• Engine-82
• Paramedic-85
• Ambulance-86
• Brush-87
• Air Unit-8

Station 9 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Long Reach Station)
5950 Tamar Dr., Columbia 21045

• Engine-91
• Paramedic-95
• Fan-9
• Battalion Chief-1
• EMS-1

Station 10 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Rivers Park Station)
10155 Old Columbia Rd., Columbia 21046

• Engine-101
• Paramedic-105
• ESV-10
• Tower-10*
• Transport-10
• Ops-10

Station 11 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Scaggsville Station)
11226 Scaggsville Rd., Scaggsville 20723

• Engine-111
• Paramedic-115
• Brush-117
• Boat-11
• Mobile-1

Station 18 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Training Academy)
12240 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville 21029

• Engine-181
• Tower-18

Station 19 - Howard County Fire and Rescue (Community Relations Unit)
12240 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville 21029

• Engine-191
• Paramedic-195

* = Unit equipped to perform extrication.