By 
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, the oldest municipal fire agency in Maryland County. This revered and unique cooperative force protects a large suburban county that surrounds the city of Baltimore.
In the mid-19th century, the area of the county surrounding Baltimore became known as “The Belt”, home to a number of factories and industrial complexes. Throughout the 1870s, factories and adjacent company villages increasingly fell victim to fires. The closest firefighting resources are the steam fire companies of the Baltimore City Fire Department, which was by then mostly paid. In 1878, the Waverly Fire Department was organized as the first in the county. The Towsontown Fire Company is formed soon after, in the county seat known today simply as Towson. Local residents finance the county to pay for fire houses and apparatus. While better than nothing, this is inadequate to protect the developing industrial areas that surround Baltimore.
By 1881, the city’s budget adjustment brings a request that the county pay an up-front fee for fire protection. Negotiations for a smaller amount are unsuccessful so the city does not fight the fire in the county anymore. With only two volunteer fire companies, the county commissioners hire Charles T. Holloway. Holloway, a former chief engineer and fire inspector for the Baltimore City Department, also started the city’s Insurance Fire Patrol. He also designs and builds chemical fire trucks and hook and ladders and recently helped form the Pittsburgh Fire Department. Holloway agrees to help create a county fire department in which he will serve as chief engineer for six months.
In July 1881, the Waverly Fire Department disbanded to hand over its station and apparatus to the new county fire department. On September 1, the Baltimore County Fire Department starts seven horse-drawn chemical engine companies, all but one built by Holloway. These are found at so many fire stations in “The Belt”, each including the Waverly station with paid firefighters. The most distant company in Townsontown remains a volunteer with only a hook and a ladder. Ownership of the Towsontown Fire Company is transferred in 1883 to the County Department, although it remains dependent on volunteers. On January 8, 1884, Chief Engineer Holloway resigns, as his six-month term lasted several years.
By the first half of 1888, the County Fire Department has 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 under development 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 are lost adding apparatus, firefighters, horses and equipment to the Baltimore City Fire Department. The county department keeps fire stations in Highlandtown and Canton, each with chemical engines plus two hooks and ladders, one in Canton and the other in Townsontown operated by volunteers.
In the following months the department is rebuilt. In 1890, the new Catonsville station opens under the county department which Towson volunteers soon after also replaced by paid staff. More county stations follow in 1892. In 1894, the county department begins adding steam pumping engines. Around the turn of the century, several voluntary companies are formed often funded in part by the county bringing suggestions for 1901 the paid county department with its 10 stations is to be abolished. A group of volunteers, the Sparrows Point Volunteer Fire Department, has seven companies in as many firehouses protecting Maryland Steel Company’s sprawling complex and shipyard in southeast 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 smaller portion south of Anne Arundel County. This creates the boundaries of the city and county of Baltimore as they are known today. Eight county fire stations plus six volunteer companies were lost. As before, the Baltimore County Fire Department is left with scant resources: 13 people for a now-paid-staffed engine in Towson, an engine in Catonsville, and a driver assigned to the Pikesville volunteers’ county-owned engine. Nineteen volunteer departments remain, however only about 10 have modern appliances. 39 salaried personnel, eight motorized engines and two ladders are lost. The County Department won’t run as many engines again until 1943 and it won’t be until 1949 before they have another ladder truck.
In subsequent years, the County Department rebuilds and sometimes operates from barns, as well as taking over other recently defunct volunteer businesses, such as in Essex and Relay. In April 1942, the County Department started the ambulance service from three of its stations. Post-World War II growth brings housing in tranches and the industry seeks spacious locations close to skilled but less expensive labor. The suburban building boom that follows engulfs once-rural areas, especially near the city line. Several new volunteer companies are formed as the County Department also expands to meet 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 replaces the volunteers at Sparrows Point and is consolidated into a single new fire station. At the close of the 1950s, the County Department had 14 engines, one ladder truck, one tanker truck, and six ambulances from 10 stations. There are 31 volunteer company stations, including at least two ambulance companies, in addition to various campus facilities, military and industrial departments.
The 1960s bring further expansion of the County Department as the proliferation of voluntary businesses subsides. By the end of decades, the County Department has 22 movers, five ladder trucks, one tanker, eight ambulances, and several 18-station special units. There are 33 volunteer company stations, including two ambulance companies, plus the facilities, military, and industrial departments, all operating as a cooperative force.
In the early 1970s, the County Department, like the city, starts the paramedic ambulance service. In the years and decades that followed, the Baltimore County Fire Department further expanded, adding more stations, including paramedic ambulance-only facilities. In 1987, the Sparrows Point department becomes the County Department and becomes Station 57. The last county station opened in 2009 a replacement multi-service facility for Parkton Station 60 in rural North County.
Baltimore County Fire Rescue service is provided by a unique system that includes a Carrera County Fire Department with 25 stations operating 30 engines, 9 ladders, and 30 paramedic ambulances. This agency works in unison with several voluntary companies also with an impressive fleet of resources that includes engines, tankers, ladders, rescue trucks and paramedic ambulances. While other Maryland counties now have municipal county fire departments, these typically came into being after World War II. The Baltimore County Fire Department is the oldest entity of its kind in Maryland and is one of the most unique cooperative municipal paid and volunteer fire and medical services agencies in the nation.