The College Park Volunteer Fire Department is located on Baltimore Avenue, just outside the main entrance to the University of Maryland campus. We average approximately 4500 calls for service per year in and around the greater College Park area. The department offers a variety of fire and EMS services including an engine company, truck company, foam unit, hazardous materials unit, two ambulances, and a paramedic unit. The firehouse is mostly staffed by live-in volunteers who are students at the University of Maryland, with supplemental career staffing during the week. Each student that lives-in volunteers his/her time, including nights and weekends, to ensure the safety of our community.
In the past, our Golf Tournament has been a significant source of income, allowing us to replace apparatus, purchase needed equipment, and make necessary station repairs. The pandemic has strained our resources and limited our fundraising. Despite those ongoing challenges, we recently purchased a custom 2022 Pierce Engine that was delivered in March 2022 at a cost of almost $700,000. Previous tournaments helped us purchase a brand new 2017 Pierce Enforcer 105′ Ladder Truck at a cost of nearly $1 million that is dedicated full time to serving the College Park community.
Other recent purchases include two new ambulances, a new officers’ vehicle and a 6WD Polaris/ASAP Special Response Unit custom manufactured to respond to emergency medical and fire incidents in areas with limited access such as the Anacostia Trail Network and the numerous special events in the area such as football, concerts and Maryland Day. We are very proud of our purchases, whose special features allow us to safely respond to and operate on a variety of emergency incidents throughout the community. This state of the art equipment benefits every resident and visitor to College Park. And it is a point of pride for everyone associated with CPVFD.
As we prepare for our 12th annual tournament, we are making great progress on the most significant renovation of the firehouse since it was built. Among the critical changes are a top to bottom renovation of the living quarters that are so critical to recruiting and maintaining the very best volunteers. The renovation is improving both meeting and study spaces while doubling the size of the station gym to ensure that the men and women of CPVFD can remain in peak condition. Those efforts, which are also addressing health and safety issues throughout the building, are expected to cost more than $150,000. Your sponsorship and participation in our Annual Golf Tournament will directly impact our ability to continue to update and improve our fleet of apparatus, update our station and to purchase needed equipment.
Our organization relies heavily upon donations from citizens and businesses within our response area to purchase all of the costly items that are required to do our duty.
For more information on how to claim your tournament sponsorship or donation, please visit the IRS’s website under “Tax Information for Contributors”.
