Fire Alarm

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department Communications Center, commonly called Fire Alarm, provides fire and emergency medical call-taking services to Anne Arundel County, two incorporated municipalities, and state and federal property in the area.  The center is currently staffed with 32 civilian fire communications operators and eight sworn fire lieutenants working a 24-hour on, 72-hour off schedule, averaging 42 hours per week.  Fire Alarm is supported by the Department’s Information Management Division and the Anne Arundel County Office of Information Technology.  In 2024, call takers answered 139,480 calls, with an average hold time of less than eight seconds, and placed 22,197 outbound calls.  

Several projects were also completed throughout the year, including portable & mobile radio updates, upgrading to the County’s P25 radio system, mapping updates, and training on a new language translation service, and we hosted several Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) leadership courses for the first time. We held three training classes certifying nine new operators in Emergency Medical Dispatch, Emergency Fire Dispatch, and Emergency Police Dispatch.  Twenty call takers completed their biennial certification process to maintain their required credentials.  This year, we’ve also embarked on a multiyear project with the Anne Arundel County Police and Anne Arundel County Emergency Management to begin merging into a joint communications center, allowing us to serve the public better.