Baltimore City oversight hearing spotlights EMS hospital delays, staffing gaps and vacant‑property fire risks

Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee Chair Mark Conway convened an oversight briefing with Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) and Baltimore City EMS leaders to review operations, apparatus deliveries, station projects, 9‑1‑1 performance and community programs under LO25‑0006. The department outlined recent and planned equipment deliveries, station renovation timelines, changes in daily operations tied to EMS demand, and new data‑driven programs intended to reduce low‑acuity 9‑1‑1 calls.

The hearing matters because the department is handling hundreds of calls each day while reporting continuing pressure from hospital offload delays and a national paramedic shortage that affect response capacity. Committee members pressed for follow‑up data on hospital offload times and on how vacant and “codex” properties affect firefighter safety and city resources.

BCFD Chief James Wallace opened the briefing with an apparatus update and an overview of station projects. “We believe by the end of the calendar year this year we’re gonna take delivery of of upwards of 8 engines and an additional sizable amount of medic units,” Chief Wallace said, and he told the committee one of the department’s fire‑rescue boats is expected to be delivered before year‑end. Wallace described recent deliveries of new medic units and a transition to some electric support vehicles.

Committee members and department leaders described multiple capital projects funded through ESPP and ARPA. Chief Wallace said Engine 27 renovations had exceeded the originally budgeted amount and that the department was “taking a position of fiscal responsibility” to meet community needs within about $7,500,000 in available funding. He reported Engine 2’s renovation is effectively complete and that Engine 31 will begin HVAC work in spring followed later by bathroom and kitchen renovations. The…