VISION STATEMENT

The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service vision is to keep our communities safe and healthy by providing the best fire, rescue, and emergency medical services, utilizing career and volunteer resources.

MISSION

The Mission of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is to protect lives, property, and the environment with comprehensive risk reduction programs; and safe, efficient, and effective emergency response provided by skilled, motivated, and compassionate career and volunteer service providers representing Montgomery County’s diverse population.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

"Our Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service providers will:

• Deliver services to our customers with impartiality and excellence
  
  
• Promote the highest standards of safety and welfare
  
  
• Serve with integrity and mutual respect
  
  
• Recognize the importance of diversity of our workforce and communities
  
  
• Promote the efficient and effective utilization of our resources, and ensure that all organizations and personnel comprising the MCFRS share the responsibility for continuously improving their capabilities, effectiveness, and efficiency
  
  
• Be responsible for the honor of our profession and public service
  
  
• Promote equity and harmony among career and volunteer personnel
  
  
• Maintain and promote open honest communication, creativity, and competence
  
  
• Be accountable and ethical
  
  
• Continuously improve public confidence and trust
  

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service

The Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS), an Accredited Agency, is a full spectrum life safety agency protecting about 500 square miles and nearly 1 million people who live and work in Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction. Under the direction of County Fire Chief, Tom Carr, the MCFRS is a combination system (career/volunteer) in the suburban Washington, D.C. area, operating with an annual budget of about $200 million dollars. The MCFRS annually handles about 100,000 emergency calls for service and is staffed by nearly 1300 career uniformed personnel and professional civilian staff and an equal number of volunteers, nearly half of whom are actively involved in emergency response.

In the last year Montgomery County has been recognized in many ways including the recognition of several individuals from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service have been acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the national fire service, including Battalion Chief John Tippett, ‘Fire Instructor of the Year’ by the International Society of Fire Department Instructors and Assistant Chief Denise Rankin-Pouget, ’Safety Officer of the Year’ by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Fire Department Safety Officers Association.

While at the same time the MCFRS was working to achieve Accreditation, the agency was presented with the National Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation (NFFF) ‘Seal of Excellence’ for not only being the first organization to institute all 16 Life-Safety Initiatives adopted by the NFFF, but also as being the largest agency to do so. The County Executive and Chief Carr commissioned a Senior Citizen Fire Safety Task Force report that was presented and led to ‘SOS – Summer of Safety’, a multi-faceted life-safety program for seniors.

The MCFRS also became the first in the nation to acquire direct negotiations and collective bargaining for volunteers. Operationally, the fire code enforcement section received additional staffing, ‘flex’ EMS units were placed into service in strategic areas, emergency unit staffing is being enhanced, new fire and rescue apparatus has been and will be placed in service and several new fire stations are expected to be built.