Commissioner urges support for volunteer firefighters, reports large mulch fire in Hollywood and policing gaps in Lexington Park

Commissioner (name not specified) told the St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners that the county needs to find ways to support volunteer firefighters and addressed an ongoing mulch fire near Hollywood that has concerned residents.

The commissioner said the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department handled 1,011 calls last year and that one volunteer logged 574 calls. "We can't say enough good things about these volunteers," the commissioner said, and urged the county to consider benefits such as property tax breaks or a stipend in the next budget to encourage continued volunteer service.

The commissioner also described an active fire at a large mulch-storage site owned by the Trading Post, which he said was intended as a location to place mulch from cleared properties. He identified Mark Cullison as the Trading Post general manager and said the site "ignited" without a burn permit. "We don't want smoky neighborhoods. We don't want your air quality impacted by smoke, and we wanna fix it," the commissioner said.

He said the county has spoken with the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department and that the incident has been turned over to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for response. The site, he said, is large and prone to smoldering underground, which can resist suppression by water tankers; county responders have discussed the possibility of using water from a nearby pond to extinguish the blaze. The Trading Post reportedly redistributed the mulch to try to let it burn out.

During the same report, the commissioner summarized a sheriff's town hall on gun violence in St. Mary's County, which highlighted higher incident concentrations in the Lexington Park area. The commissioner said District 4's station in Lexington Park — which he said cost more than $6,000,000 to make blast-force protected — is not being fully used because of staffing vacancies. "We spent over $6,000,000 making it... and I really expected people to be assigned to that location," he said, adding that vacancies have affected the ability to staff the facility.

He said county leaders discussed directing resources to areas where violence is concentrated and expressed disappointment that the state delegation had not granted additional authority the commissioners sought. The commissioner also noted the county's fiscal position, saying the assessable base increased by almost $4,000,000,000 over the past decade and that the county recently received its first AAA bond rating.

The commissioner encouraged residents to provide evidence if they believe illegal burning has occurred and said the county will continue working with DNR and local fire departments to resolve the mulch fire and explore volunteer incentives during the next budget process.