MONTGOMERY CO., Va. – Over the past few years, Montgomery County has seen continuous growth. With that growth comes an increase in emergency calls.
“The county wants to focus on our citizens and ensuring that they always have the protection they need, whether that be volunteer or career staff,” said Michael Geary, Montgomery County Fire and EMS chief.
To stay up to speed with the continuous growth, leaders in Montgomery County are looking to bring a comprehensive study for their county’s fire and emergency departments to see where they are doing well, and where they can improve.
“What we need to do is be able to evaluate the entire county as a whole, to make sure that all residents are met,” said Derek Kitts, District B supervisor for the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. “The town, the university, and the county.”
To learn about the study, I went to the Montgomery County Government Center to talk to Kitts who is heading the project.
He said he has been looking into this for over a year visiting different departments.
“As the county grows, we want to make sure that all the needs of the residents are met,” Kitts said.
He said the goal of the study is to make sure they are doing everything they can to keep the people in the county safe.
“This is not so much for a now, as it is to be able to project out,” Kitts said.
Michael Geary with Montgomery County Fire and EMS said this study could help every department.
“We don’t want to be reactive when something happens,” said Geary. “We want to take a proactive approach and prepare for when those calls for service come in.”
They both said now the goal is to hire an outside company to take an objective look at the departments.
“We look at our needs and the community’s needs all the time, almost every single day, and so to have a firm potentially come in that does this as a job is very exciting,” Geary said.
They said they hope the study will be active by the end of the year.