Category:emergency services

K9 Emergency Medical Care Training

On April 12th Garrett County Emergency Services hosted an inter-departmental training and continuing education program lead by the President of the National Association of Veterinary Emergency Medical Services, flight paramedic, and Impact EMS instructor Rick Maricle.

The topic of the training was operational K9 emergency medical care. This CAPCE accredited course was supplemented by a K9 officer for non-invasive assessment and the latest state-of-the-art high fidelity K9 mannequin for advanced skill demonstration and training. Personnel from Garrett County Emergency Services, Southern Garrett Rescue Company 9, Bittinger Volunteer Fire Department, Deep Creek Volunteer Fire Company, Maryland State Police, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) and Maryland Department of Natural Resources - Natural Resources Police came together for this excellent training opportunity.

https://www.garrettcountymd.gov/emergency-management/news/2025-04/k9-emergency-medical-care-training

Garrett County reimbursed $20K for tanker truck incident

From Staff ReportsCumberland Times-News

— OAKLAND — The Garrett County Commissioners received a $20,343 insurance settlement from the National Interstate Insurance company for costs incurred to the county as a result of the tanker truck accident on April 16.

A tanker full of 10,000 gallons of liquid propane overturned in the heart of the Oakland business district and traffic had to be detoured for Routes 219 and 135 to Sand Flat Road. The Garrett County Roads Department will receive $13,672.

The incident prompted transfer of 45 inmates of the Garrett County Detention Center to the Allegany County Detention Center where they remained incarcerated overnight prior to being returned to Garrett County. The inmates were evacuated to the Southern Garrett Rescue Squad building prior to being taken to the Allegany County jail in Cresaptown.

The Garrett County Sheriff’s Office will receive $6,671, of which $2,214 will go toward detention center overtime, $1,062 for 911 center overtime, $1,935 for Allegany County, $744for transporting the inmates, $423 for food for the inmates and for the command post and $290 for sheriff’s office overtime costs.

“There was also a lot of overtime involved for the various agencies involved and hundreds of people involved in the emergency response,” said Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator, in a previous interview.

Garrett County’s 911 calls were handled by Allegany County during the incident.

More here.

Emergency operations center now fully operational

Facility at Garrett County Airport has geographic mapping system, stations for 22 staffers

Elaine BlaisdellCumberland Times-News

MCHENRY — The state-of-the-art emergency operations center at the Garrett County Airport became fully operational two weeks ago after snags with fiber optics were fixed.

The 700-square-foot facility includes a GIS mapping system, a double touch SMART Board, 22 stations for staff, four primary computer stations for specific functions like tracking weather and a ham radio station, according to John Frank III, director of emergency management. “We still have a few things that we need to tweak a little bit,” he said.

A test on the fiber op-tics system still needs to be completed, according to Frank.

The EOC has a computer plug for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency representative to access the WebEOC, which can be used to request more personnel in the event of an emergency situation, according to Frank.

The EOC will have two operators who will be available to transfer calls to the appropriate location, such as the roads department.

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the county begin working on the EOC to become better prepared for emergency situations.

“We admit in our after-action report that we were ill-prepared, we really didn’t have an active emergency operations center,” said County Commissioner Jim Raley. “Certainly, that doesn’t mean before Hurricane Sandy we didn’t talk about some problems.”

Prior to the EOC, a 525-square-foot makeshift command center at the courthouse was used. In the beginning, the command center didn’t have phones or laptops for the EOC staff.

One of the issues during Superstorm Sandy was that the National Weather Service was forecasting that the storm wasn’t going to affect the county, according to Raley.

“We know in the future that we should have been at a mid-level early on watching the storm, then should have had staff ready,” said Raley. “Now the nice thing is we have all that in place.”

The county adopted an EOC essential employee list that is made up of 40 people. The policy consists of three levels in which essential staff responds. The county is always operating at a level three, which is the lowest level, according to Frank. Level three is a monitoring phase in which the EOC is staffed by public safety and emergency management personnel.

“I feel really good about what we have in place. We have the facility and we are going to have the personnel,” said Raley. “Those are two of the key things that need to be in place, we have the resources of other agencies now as well.”

All the essential staff are required to attend two training sessions a year and to participate in a tabletop exercise.

“Another key piece is identifying those people that need to be here,” said county commission chairman Robert Gatto. “That was another problem getting staff in; some of the agencies couldn’t get to their staff, communication was lost or the ability to get them in was lost. That was one thing that really came out in the after-action.”

Local Emergency Planning Committee staff and essential staff will be notified of an emergency situation via email and text through the computer-aided dispatch system at the 911 center, according to Frank. The LEPC put together the after-action report following Superstorm Sandy.

“We really did have hard conversations about the things that didn’t go right,” said Raley. “Some things did go right; we tweaked those a little bit and they became part of the after-action report.”

There were also some issues with wellness checks of the vulnerable population, according to Raley.

A committee specific to the vulnerable population has been established and meets periodically at the health department to finalize standard operation procedures for wellness checks performed by various agencies/departments.

The Department of Public Safety was awarded approximately $79,000 through MEMA for a generator terminal and Frank is working on procurement of the generator. The airport has its own generator.

Frank has been working with delegates from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and MEMA to find funding sources, according to Gatto.

“We had great support during Sandy and it carried us through to this point,” said Gatto.

The airport location centralizes the EOC but still places it away from other areas that could become potential problem areas in case of an emergency, like Interstate 68 and downtown Oakland, said Raley. The airport also makes it easier for emergency reponders to fly in and is centrally located to Garrett College and the fairgrounds.

“When you look at how everything is staged, this corridor is the actual perfect corridor,” said Raley.

Frank hopes to expand the EOC or have a stand-alone facility so that the room where the EOC is located can be turned back over to the airport.

Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.

Commissioners Announce Plans For DCL Emergency Numbering System

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Aug. 19, 2010

Garrett County government is teaming with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to develop and distribute address signs around the Deep Creek Lake shoreline, the county commissioners announced on Tuesday.

The signs, which will be affixed to docks, allow emergency personnel to identify and relate a location on Deep Creek Lake to be a landmark, enabling responders to reach an incident without unnecessary delays.

Numerous calls for assistance come from boaters using cell phones, and determining a precise location of the caller is difficult, according to Director Brad Frantz, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management,

“Presently, our 9-1-1 call-takers get information from such calls that display longitude and latitude,” Frantz said. “While this gives us a general location of an incident, with all the inlets and coves around the lake, it may not be precise enough to approach the call from the correct road. This can result in delays for fire, EMS, or police units.”

Read the rest here.

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Paid EMS positions expected to increase in Allegany, Garrett

Jeffrey Alderton
Cumberland Times-News

— GRANTSVILLE — With 17 people already employed as emergency medical service professionals by Allegany and Garrett counties, more EMS job opportunities are expected in both counties in the future.

“Without an influx of volunteers to supplement the paid EMS systems in Allegany and Garrett counties, there will be no alternative but to continue hiring EMS professionals to pick up the lack of volunteerism,” said Dwayne Kitis, who serves as the Region 1 administrator of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems.

Ten EMS professionals are employed by Allegany County and seven by Garrett County. “These positions are a mixture of medics — emergency medical technicians intermediate and paramedics and emergency medical technicians basic. Most are full time and have county benefits including a retirement plan,” said Kitis.

An unknown number of EMS providers are employed by private ambulance companies in both counties. In addition, more than 55 people are employed in the Cumberland Fire Department as firefighters who are cross-trained as EMS providers, including 12 paramedics who operate the department’s 24-hour ambulance service.

On April 28 at 6:30 p.m., an informational session for anyone who has been certified as an EMT-B for at least a year and would like to advance to the next level of training will be held at the Frostburg Area Ambulance Service at 86 W. Main St., where classes are scheduled.

“The EMT-I course will be offered this fall through Garrett College,” said Kitis. “While you are not required to attend the session, you are strongly encouraged to do so. The session will provide greater detail about the program and will give you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.”

Program coordinator Doug Beitzel and a number of advanced life support-certified instructors teach classes on Monday and Thursday evenings. Students complete clinic hour requirements and field time with designated EMS providers.

The EMT-B gives basic life support medical care that includes airway management, assessment of circulation and interventions such as CPR, tourniquets, splints and backboards for spinal immobilization. The EMT-B can assist with low-risk medications that patients already have and use.

The EMT-I can start certain advanced life supporting measures and can use advanced airway management. They use EKG monitors for heart rhythms and deliver electric defibrillating shocks manually to patients in cardiac arrest. They can also start intravenous lines for fluid replacement in a patient and are permitted to administer a limited number of drugs.

The EMT-P is the highest level of prehospital emergency medical care. They are qualified to do all of the functions of the EMT-B and the EMT-I in addition to further advanced airway management and administering many more medications.

Kitis said, “Our citizens need to realize that EMT-B training is virtually free of charge and to become an EMT-I or paramedic the tuition that our region’s citizen-volunteers pay is significantly less, about one-third, than what you would pay for the same training at a university somewhere else. The only requirement to gain access to this program as possible future career training is that he or she must be a member in good standing with a fire, rescue or EMS company in Allegany or Garrett counties.”

The need for EMS professionals will continue as emergency calls continue to increase throughout the area, Kitis said.

Information is also available by contacting Jean Tressler, coordinator of operations, Garrett College Continuing Education & Workforce Development, at 301-387-3085 or e-mail jean.tressler@garrettcollege.edu. The MIEMSS office may be contacted at 301-895-5934.

“So far, we have had 32 people express interest in our EMT-intermediate class that will begin this fall and right now we are finishing up our paramedic training with 12 students. That class started out two years ago with 25 students,” said Tressler. “Now the training seems to be viewed more as career training than volunteer training. Paid opportunity is becoming more available due to the downward trend in volunteerism, due in part for the need for two people in the family to work and less time available for volunteering.”

EMT-B classes will be conducted in the fall at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute off U.S. Route 220 in Cresaptown and at Garrett College.

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Delegation to hear concerns on sheriff’s office, slots, wind power

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

(from article)

In Garrett County, emergency services, legislation to authorize an increase in the hotel/motel tax and to establish minimum setback requirements and decommissioning standards for commercial wind turbines are key issues.

Among statewide issues, local organizations are seeking state lawmakers’ support in keeping teacher pensions state-funded and to modify the collective bargaining process that currently allows the state Department of Education, instead of an independent mediator, to serve as final authority in labor disputes between teachers’ unions and the state board.

Rocky Gap State Park is one of five locations authorized to operate slots. The eastern Allegany County facility is permitted up to 1,500 machines. To date, there has been no qualified bid submitted for the site. The Allegany County commissioners asked the delegation in November to introduce a bill that would allow third parties to purchase licenses to operate some of the machines.

The Garrett County commissioners have asked the delegation to introduce a bill that would grant them the authority to increase the hotel/motel tax. It’s an issue that local businesses and property owners object to. Joyce Bishoff, interim president of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce, indicated that an accommodations tax increase could turn people away from visiting.

The commissioners also want the authority, as their counterparts in Allegany and Kent counties do, to have public sales of homes of residents who are 60 days or more delinquent in the payment of water and sewer bills. During a November meeting, the county’s Department of Public Utilities noted property owners were more than $280,000 in arrears.

There have been a number of requests from private individuals and agencies as well.

Linda Jones of the Garrett County side of Lonaconing is asking the delegation to continue pushing for equal payments for widows deemed “wholly dependent” and “partially self-supporting” after a death in the workplace. Jones, whose husband Dale Jones was killed in April 2007 during a mining incident along with Frostburg resident Michael Wilt, praised the passage of legislation in 2009 that increased payments, but wants a level playing field.

Frostburg resident and former state senator John Bambacus has appealed to the delegation to codify Gov. Martin O’Malley’s ban of wind turbines on state land. Bambacus said the ban currently is continued only at the whim of the state’s chief elected officer.

Bambacus also wants legislation introduced to prohibit wind turbines on mountain ridges in Garrett and Allegany counties.

In correspondence with Bambacus, Delegate Wendell Beitzel said such legislative efforts might be “futile … due to the current frenzy to develop alternative energy sources and the governor’s opposition to anything that stands in the way of wind energy development.”

Beitzel also said that such legislation “could come back to haunt us” if it would prevent other possible uses that would “foster economic development, recreational infrastructure and tourism-related activities.”

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Long & Foster Real Estate for all of your real estate needs! 877-563-5350

Category:emergency services

K9 Emergency Medical Care Training

K9 Emergency Medical Care Training

Garrett County reimbursed $20K for tanker truck incident

Emergency operations center now fully operational

Facility at Garrett County Airport has geographic mapping system, stations for 22 staffers

Commissioners Announce Plans For DCL Emergency Numbering System

Paid EMS positions expected to increase in Allegany, Garrett

Delegation to hear concerns on sheriff’s office, slots, wind power

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