One of the most unique firefighting forces in Maryland is that of Baltimore County. Their combined service consists of several volunteer fire companies working in conjunction with the Baltimore County Fire Department, Maryland’s oldest county fire agency. This revered and unique cooperative force protects a large suburban county that surrounds the city of Baltimore.

In the mid-1800s, the area of ​​the county surrounding Baltimore was known as “The Belt,” home to several mills and industrial complexes. During the 1870s, the mills and adjacent villages of the company were increasingly victims of fires. The closest firefighting resources are the steam fire companies of the Baltimore City Fire Department, which by then was largely paid. In 1878, the Waverly Fire Department was organized as the first in the county. The Towsontown Fire Company was formed soon after, in the county seat known today simply as Towson. Local residents fund both the county and to pay for firehouses and appliances. While better than nothing, this is inadequate to protect the developing industrial areas surrounding Baltimore.

For 1881, the city’s budget adjustment brings a request that the county pay an upfront fee for fire protection. Negotiations for a smaller amount are fruitless so that the city does not fight the fires in the county anymore. With just two volunteer fire companies, county commissioners hire Charles T. Holloway. As chief engineer and fire inspector for the Baltimore City Department, Holloway also started the city’s Insurance Fire Patrol. He also designs and builds chemical fire trucks and hooks and ladders and recently helped form the Pittsburgh Fire Department. Holloway agrees to help create a county fire department where he will serve as chief engineer for six months.

In July 1881, the Waverly Fire Department dissolved with the order to turn over its station and apparatus to the new county fire department. On September 1, the Baltimore County Fire Department kicks off seven horse-drawn chemical engine companies, all but one built by Holloway. These are found at so many fire stations on “The Belt”, each including the Waverly station with paid firefighters. The more distant Towsontown company is still volunteering with just a hook and ladder. Ownership of Towsontown Fire Company is transferred in 1883 to the County Department, although it remains dependent on volunteers. On January 8, 1884, Chief Engineer Holloway resigned, as his six-month tenure has spanned several years.

By the first half of 1888, the County Fire Department had nine stations each with a chemical engine plus four hooks and ladders. The county-owned Towsontown station still relies on volunteers with a similar operation in Catonsville. On June 1, the city of Baltimore annexes the 2 miles north and 1 mile west of “The Belt.” Seven county fire stations were lost adding appliances, fire engines, horses and equipment to the Baltimore City Fire Department. The county department is left with firehouses in Highlandtown and Canton, each with chemical engines plus two hooks and ladders, one in Canton and the other in Towsontown operated by volunteers.

In the following months, the department rebuilds itself. In 1890, the new Catonsville station opened under the county department, and Towson’s volunteers were soon replaced by paid staff. More county stations will follow in 1892. In 1894, the county department begins adding steam pump engines. By the turn of the century, various volunteer ventures are formed often funded in part by the county bringing suggestions for 1901 that the county pay department with its 10 stations be abolished. One group of volunteers, the Sparrows Point Volunteer Fire Department, has seven companies in equal numbers of firefighters guarding the expanding Maryland Steel Company compound and shipyard in southeastern county.

On January 1, 1919, the city re-annexed more than 46 square miles of the county, this time on all three sides plus a small southern portion of Anne Arundel County. This creates the city and county limits of Baltimore as they are known today. Eight county firehouses plus six volunteer companies were lost. As before, the Baltimore County Fire Department is left with scarce resources: 13 people for a now-staffed motor in Towson, an motor in Catonsville, and a driver assigned to the county-owned motor from Pikesville volunteers. Nineteen volunteer departments remain, yet only about ten have modern appliances. 39 paid employees, eight motorized motors and two hooks and ladders are lost. The County Department won’t get that many engines back in operation until 1943 and it will be until 1949 before they have another ladder truck.

In the following years, the County Department rebuilds operations sometimes from barns and also takes over other recently defunct volunteer companies, such as those in Essex and Relay. In April 1942, the County Department began ambulance service from three of its stations. After World War II, growth brings large-scale housing and industries close to skilled but less expensive labor. The suburban construction boom that follows absorbs once-rural areas, especially near the urban line. Several new volunteer companies are formed as the County Department also expands to meet the growing demand.

In 1954, radio communications began from a central dispatch facility at the new Towson station. In 1957, a paid fire department under Bethlehem Steel replaced the volunteers at Sparrows Point and consolidated into a new fire station. In the late 1950s, the County Department had 14 engines, a ladder truck, a tanker truck, and six 10-station ambulances. There are 31 volunteer company stations, including at least two ambulance companies plus various campus facilities, military and industrial departments.

The 1960s brought with it further expansion of the County Department as the proliferation of voluntary businesses declined. At the end of the decades, the County Department has 22 engines, five ladder trucks, one tanker, eight ambulances, and several 18-station special units. There are 33 volunteer company stations, including two ambulance companies, plus facilities, military and industrial departments, all operating as a cooperative force.

In the early 1970s, the County Department, like the city, began the paramedic ambulance service. In the years and decades that followed, the Baltimore County Fire Department expanded further and added more stations, including facilities for paramedic ambulances. In 1987, the department of Sparrows Point was transferred to the County Department and became Station 57. The last station in the county opened in 2009 a replacement multi-service facility for Station 60 in Parkton in rural North County.

Baltimore County Fire Rescue Service is provided through a single system that includes a career-wide County Fire Department with 25 stations operating 30 engines, 9 ladders, and 30 paramedic ambulances. This agency works in unison with several volunteer companies also with an impressive fleet of resources that includes engines, tankers, ladders, rescue trucks and paramedic ambulances. While other counties in Maryland now have municipal county fire departments, these generally came about after WWII. The Baltimore County Fire Department is the oldest entity of its kind in Maryland and is one of the nation’s most unique paid volunteer fire and medical services agencies and municipal cooperatives.