Fire Station

Anne Arundel County officials broke ground Friday morning for a new fire station for the Marley area of Glen Burnie. The station is next to Marley Middle School, on Route 648 and McGuirk Road, and officials expect the site on main roads will help improve response time. Funded in part through a $1.9 million federal Homeland Security grant with a county match, the station will replace the old Marley firehouse, which was repeatedly expanded and has heavy termite damage. Fire and rescue workers there respond to about 6,800 calls a year.

Members of the Homeschool Heart in Hand 4-H Club met May 8 for their annual work day at Black Horse Fire Station and McKendree Cemetery in Black Horse, MD. Members created a new flower bed at Black Horse Station and pruned bushes and trees, planted flowers, weeded and mulched the finished beds at McKendree Cemetery. The club wishes to thank Smith Hardware, Jarrettsville for its donation of flowers and A.D. Heston Tree Service and Mulch of Street for its donation of mulch.

The bright-red 2010 Rosenbauer Pumper was so new that it didn't even have fire hoses attached. Delivered just last week, the $600,000 fire engine sat in a bay at Station 6 in Dundalk, waiting to be accessorized. It never got a chance to respond to a fire. Instead, the Rosenbauer and other vehicles - including a National Guard Humvee and two ambulances - were damaged, possibly beyond repair, when the firehouse on Sollers Point Road burned and the roof collapsed early Wednesday.

The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department will hold its second annual EMS Open House on Saturday, May 18 from noon to 3 p.m. at the fire station, 7411 Cherry Lane. Activities include meeting Laurel's licensed emergency medical technicians, blood pressure screening and learning about injury prevention. Visitors can also take an ambulance tour. The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department was formed four years after an 1898 fire on Main Street destroyed 12 buildings, including the Presbyterian Church.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Saturday morning for a new fire station being built at the corner of Route 924 and Patterson Mill Road in the Emmorton community midway between Bel Air and Abingdon. The Bel Air Substation at Patterson Mill, as the facility will be known, will be operated by the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company and is the first fire facility in Harford County to be constructed solely with funding from the county government, Bob Thomas, manager of communications for the county, said Friday.

The problem: The sidewalks by a Riverside fire station go unshoveled. The backstory: More than a week has passed since two back-to-back storms crippled Baltimore. The news during and after the snowstorms was filled with city officials' pleas to residents and businesses, imploring them to assist with the cleanup by shoveling snow off sidewalks, and from storm drains and fire hydrants. One might ask whether some of the departments should also be doing their part.

A firehouse built on North Avenue when Alcaeus Hooper was Baltimore's mayor in 1896 reopened Saturday after being shuttered for a year for renovations, allowing firefighters to return to a building described as the historic cornerstone of Walbrook. The city's latest mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, greeted neighborhood civic leaders and thanked residents for their patience. She applauded firefighters, too, noting that there has been just one fire death in the city this year after last year's 17, which was the lowest annual number of fatal fires since the department started keeping track in 1938.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has proposed selling the Towson fire station at York Road and Bosley Avenue to raise money for the county ("Balto. Co. plans to sell buildings," Dec. 11). He has stated that the funds would be used to build a new fire station and to help fund air-conditioning at Dumbarton Middle School. I applaud the county executive for finding creative ways to fund projects. And, yes, Dumbarton badly needs air-conditioning, while the fire station is very old and needs replacing.

Baltimore County officials said Monday they no longer intend to relocate a fire station to Towson Manor Park, a plan the community had fought. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced the county now plans to build the new Towson fire station at the corner of Towsontown Boulevard and Bosley Avenue, where the county owns a gas station that's used for county vehicles. The fire station is currently located at the corner of Bosley Avenue and York Road, and plans to move it to the park sparked controversy among residents.

A Carroll County fire station caught fire Thursday morning after the snow-covered roof of its social hall collapsed and debris severed a natural gas line, a spokesman for the Sykesville Fire Department said. According to Dave Kreimer, the three-alarm blaze at the Sykesville Freedom Fire District destroyed the social hall, and caused damage to adjoining classrooms and administrative offices. The engine bays were smoke-filled, but not damaged. More than two dozen units from Carroll, Howard and Baltimore counties responded to the fire that broke around shortly before 9 a.m. It took nearly two hours for the fire to be brought under control, but Kreimer said that no one was injured.

Baltimore County is preparing to sell three taxpayer-owned properties to private developers, but members of the public won't know all the details of what they're planning until officials make a decision. County leaders said last week they would not release proposals for the North Point Government Center in Dundalk, the Towson fire station, and a police substation in Randallstown after The Baltimore Sun filed a Public Information Act request. Don Mohler, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's chief of staff, said the county wants to keep the documents under wraps so that the procurement process is "devoid of any kind of external pressure.

Baltimore County officials said Monday they no longer intend to relocate a fire station to Towson Manor Park, a plan the community had fought. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced the county now plans to build the new Towson fire station at the corner of Towsontown Boulevard and Bosley Avenue, where the county owns a gas station that's used for county vehicles. The fire station is currently located at the corner of Bosley Avenue and York Road, and plans to move it to the park sparked controversy among residents.

WEATHER: Sunny, high near 48 . Tonight is expected to be clear, low around 38. TRAFFIC: Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS City issued speed camera ticket to motionless car : T he Baltimore City speed camera ticket alleged that the four-door Mazda wagon was going 38 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone. But the Mazda wasn't speeding - it wasn't even moving.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has proposed selling the Towson fire station at York Road and Bosley Avenue to raise money for the county ("Balto. Co. plans to sell buildings," Dec. 11). He has stated that the funds would be used to build a new fire station and to help fund air-conditioning at Dumbarton Middle School. I applaud the county executive for finding creative ways to fund projects. And, yes, Dumbarton badly needs air-conditioning, while the fire station is very old and needs replacing.

With two swing sets, a plastic jungle gym, a sandbox and a few benches, Towson Manor Park is just a little patch of land on the edge of a neighborhood. On a recent afternoon, it was mostly deserted, except for a group of teens who laughed under a wooden gazebo after school. But for neighbors, it's a gathering spot and a break from the high-rise buildings downtown and the traffic rumbling by on Towsontown Boulevard. And they're ready to fight a proposal by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's administration to replace an aging fire station on heavily developed York Road with a new one at the park site.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has proposed to sell the Towson fire station, located at York Road and Bosley Avenue, in order to raise money. He has stated that these funds would be used to build a new fire station and to help fund air conditioning at Dumbarton Middle School. I applaud the county executive for finding creative ways to fund projects. And, yes, Dumbarton badly needs air conditioning and the fire station is very old and needs replacing. However, the cost to the community is too great, because part of his solution is to build a new fire station on park land.

Few people could compare being a firefighter and a professional football player, but former Ravens long snapper Joe Maese knows they have one thing in common. It's called preparation. "The biggest thing is that you need to be professional," said Maese, a firefighter for Long Reach Station 9 in Howard County. "You go through all those practices, meetings and all of that training. There might be that one fire a year, which is like having that one playoff game, and you had better [have]

With two swing sets, a plastic jungle gym, a sandbox and a few benches, Towson Manor Park is just a little patch of land on the edge of a neighborhood. On a recent afternoon, it was mostly deserted, except for a group of teens who laughed under a wooden gazebo after school. But for neighbors, it's a gathering spot and a break from the high-rise buildings downtown and the traffic rumbling by on Towsontown Boulevard. And they're ready to fight a proposal by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's administration to replace an aging fire station on heavily developed York Road with a new one at the park site.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's plan to offer some county properties for sale in Dundalk, Randallstown and Towson has the potential to solve a few problems and create better opportunities for some students without any cost to the taxpayers, though it also has the potential to create some new problems, too. As such, it is a perfect example of the strengths and weaknesses of Baltimore County government. If your main concern is efficiency and tight stewardship of taxpayer dollars, you'll be happy.

The Historical Society of Harford County has two Christmas events happening this month at the society's headquarters in downtown Bel Air. The society's popular Model Train Show is running Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. through Dec. 16. Admission to the train show is $4 for adults, $2 for children and free for children under 4. It's one of at least three train gardens on display locally...