Our property tax assessment notice came recently. In spite of the sharpest real estate downturn in a decade, our house was assessed at $80,000 more than its previous assessment. The assessment notice came two days after a Roland Park Civic League e-communication notified residents that since July 11, one or the other of the two vehicles at the Roland Park fire station, Engine No. 44 and Truck No. 25, had been removed from service more than 50 days or nights since July 2009.

The assessment notice also came one day after I learned that an Elmwood Road resident phoned 911 for a tree on fire and reportedly waited 20 minutes for a response. When the fire department arrived, the engine did not go to the Elmwood address. Not until the woman who phoned 911 went out and found the engine up the street did the driver from a different fire station find his way to the fire. The driver stated that he was unfamiliar with the neighborhood.

During a time of city budget cuts, that scenario is undoubtedly playing out many times a day throughout the city, with both fire engines and ambulances. With a current fire department budget shortfall of $6.5 million, Baltimore City Fire Chief James Clack has made the commendable decision not to close any fire stations, but to have rotating closures of fire company units, including those at the Roland Park station. But with a projected shortfall of $13 million, the future is unclear. Clack told the Roland Park Civic League Jan. 7 that prior to budget cuts, firefighters 97 percent of the time were able to respond to calls within four minutes, the city's goal. Since rotating closures started, firefighters are able to respond to calls within four minutes 83 to 84 percent of the time, Clack said.

If the budget deficit grows, Roland Park's Truck 25 would most likely be moved to Hampden, he said. Undoubtedly, average response time would drop.

That is not good news for Roland Park, Evergeen, Tuxedo Park, Keswick or any surrounding old neighborhood filled with century-old homes, many of wood construction. In the tragic fire of December 2007, two children in Roland Park died. Their house was not wood but brick, and firefighters arrived in less than two minutes. If any of these communities, or ones farther north like the Orchards, Chatham and North Roland Park were to have a fire now, when one, or both, pieces of equipment is out of service, what would happen?

Chief Clack also stated at the community meeting that the farther away a neighborhood is from the center of the city, the farther apart station coverage is.

My concern is not only for area residents, but also for thousands of students at the eight public and private elementary, middle and high schools, plus two colleges, in the area where the Roland Park fire station is the first responder. Many of those students contributed to the $40,000 to $50,000 the civic league raised (on top of $200,000 it helped secure from the city and state) for improvements to the aging station.

City Council members Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Jack Young, Mary Pat Clarke and Sharon Green Middleton attended the civic league meeting.

In stating that she was against any closures Green said, "It's reckless endangerment."

That is exactly how it feels. Rotating closures are far more serious than simply an item to mention in a state property assessment appeal, but who would chose to move to a place where fire safety is declining?

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