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Montgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue Services

Agency overview
Annual calls	~134,000
Employees	~1,270 career ~1165 volunteer ~100 support staff
Annual budget	~$262,000,000
Staffing	Combination
Fire chief	Corey Smedley
EMS level	ALS and BLS
IAFF	1664
Motto	French:Gardez Bien (in English) Guard Well
Facilities and equipment
Divisions	4
Battalions	5
Stations	39
Engines	35
Trucks	15
Rescues	6
Ambulances	45
HAZMAT	2
Light and air	2
Website
MontgomeryCountyMD.gov/MCFRS
https://www.iafflocal1664.org/

TheMontgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS), officially theMontgomery County Department of Fire and Rescue Services (DFRS), is the public safety agency that providesfire protection andemergency medical services forMontgomery County, Maryland. The services are provided by a combination of paid county personnel and volunteer members of the various independent, non-profitvolunteer fire and rescue corporations located throughout the county.

Recruit Class 1 for MCFRS began on 2/29/1988.

The MCFRS went to Oklahoma City in 1995 to conduct USAR operations after theOklahoma City bombing.^[1]

In 2001, the MCFRS went toPentagon inArlington County, Virginia aboardRideOn buses to assist in urban search and rescue (USAR) efforts immediately after theSeptember 11 attacks.^[1]

In 2004, the County Council passed legislation to reorganize the Fire & Rescue Service by placing all personnel, career and volunteer, under the command of a singlefire chief.^[2][3]However, actual services are delivered most commonly from career personal operating out of volunteer owned stations across the county with volunteers serving in the evening hours and on weekends to increase manpower during periods of high call volume. This system is due to the population size of the county and need for round the clock services. The county uses the standardincident command system to coordinate the efforts of career and volunteer personnel at the scenes of emergencies.

Montgomery County also works closely with and has mutual aid agreements withDC Fire & EMS,Fairfax County Fire & Rescue,Frederick County Fire & Rescue,Howard County Fire & Rescue, andPrince George's County Fire/EMS.

In April 2020, MCFRS implemented aCOVID-19 Surge Plan which included the staffing of more BLS ambulances, as well as moving ALS providers from AFRA and medic units to chase cars. This, paired with a continuous Blue Alert, which goes in effect when an EMS jurisdictional system is temporarily taxed to its limits in providing pre hospital care and ambulance transportation due to extraordinary situations that contribute to high demand for ambulance service, and decontamination teams stationed at each of the main hospitals in the county enabled proper patient distribution and lessoned the burden on the system. The Plan was ended in June 2020.

On June 30, 2023, Fire Chief Scott Goldstein left MCFRS for a fire and rescue department inCowlitz County, Washington. Goldstein had been chief since June 2015.^[4] On July 9, 2024 Montgomery County Council confirmed Corey Smedley appointment as Chief of MCFRS.^[5]

Fire Chief, Division Chief, Assistant Chief, Battalion Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Master Firefighter, Firefighter 3, Firefighter 2, Firefighter 1, Recruit, Candidate

The county is broken into five battalions, with a total of 37 fire stations and 2 rescue squads.

Stations 36 and 39 are not listed as they are not in service as of September 2025.

* Denotes Special Operations Station

• Stations 7, 20, 28, 25 - Hazmat Response Team
• Stations 10, 30, 14 - Swift Water Rescue Team
• Stations 25, 29, 31 - Technical Rescue Team (TRT)
• Station 23 - Emergency Response Team (ERT)

Abbreviations

• Fire departments in Maryland

• "Bethesda Fire Department, Inc. - History". Bethesda Fire Department, Inc. RetrievedAugust 1, 2018.
• "Glen Echo Fire Department - about GEFD". Glen Echo Fire Department. Archived fromthe original on July 15, 2006. RetrievedJanuary 1, 2007.
• "Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association - about us". Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association. Archived fromthe original on October 9, 2007. RetrievedJanuary 1, 2007.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMontgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

• Official website

• Fire departments in Maryland
• Montgomery County, Maryland

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