LEONARDTOWN — Deputy chiefs at St. Mary’s County’s volunteer fire departments could soon earn the same incentive credit as the chiefs and assistant chiefs they work beside, under a change the county’s Emergency Services Board sent to the commissioners.
The board voted at its October meeting to recommend adding deputy chiefs to Tier 3, the operational leadership level, of the county’s Active Volunteer Firefighter and Rescue Squad Response Awards Program ordinance. No opposition was heard. The St. Mary’s County commissioners would have to amend the ordinance for the change to take effect.
The program currently recognizes a chief officer and an assistant chief officer at that level, the rescue squads’ representative told the board. But most companies also have deputy chiefs, he said, who “put in just as much time” as their chiefs and assistant chiefs.
Treasurers left out
The proposal started broader. The St. Mary’s County Rescue Squad Association voted to ask that both deputy chiefs and rescue squad assistant treasurers, an administrative post many squads have, be added, and sent a letter to the Emergency Services Board to forward to the commissioners.
The St. Mary’s County Fireboard Association split on it. Its membership agreed deputy fire chiefs belong in Tier 3 but did not support adding assistant treasurers, the association’s president told the board.
With the two groups agreeing only on deputy chiefs, the board’s motion was limited to them. “The fact that we’ve got a point of commonality here makes it pretty easy,” the member who made the motion said.
The board did not discuss what the Tier 3 benefit is worth or how many deputy chiefs would qualify.
Scholarships on the way
The volunteer system’s other incentives are moving, too. All 12 applicants for the fiscal 2027 volunteer scholarships were approved, and each will receive $3,333.33 once Commissioner President Randy Guy signs the paperwork and the students complete their courses with qualifying grades, staff told the board.
The county lists the response awards program, scholarships, dependent care reimbursement and a state tax incentive among the benefits for volunteer firefighters and EMTs. At the same meeting, the board also voted to back fire leaders’ call for the county to fund a dedicated 911 call taker.
