When the neighbors reported a tree on fire Dec. 26 in a backyard on Elmwood Road, they expected Engine No. 44 to zoom in from the Roland Park firehouse.

But as the minutes ticked by and no one came, Kathleen Truelove walked up the street with her dog in the rain and saw a fire engine. The driver looked lost, and she told him, "The fire's down the hill."

"I'm not from around here," he said.

That scenario is playing out increasingly in Roland Park. More than 50 times since July, Baltimore City has ordered that at least one of the major vehicles at the Roland Park fire station be temporarily taken out of service or moved to another firehouse to save the city money, according to community leaders.

But they say the city never alerted the neighborhood it was doing so, and that it may be an unsafe practice.

"I was completely clueless. I thought maybe it was holiday scheduling," said Truelove, president of the Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corp., a subsidiary of the Roland Park Civic League.

The duration of each incident is increasing, said Philip Spevak, president of the league. Between July and early December, the vehicles were idled or moved for 14 hours at a time; in recent weeks it's been "days at a time," Spevak said.

The station appears to be one of at least four in the city that have had equipment deliberately idled on a rotating basis, a practice called "closure," he said.

City Fire Chief James Clack and Stuart Nathan, one of the city's fire commissioners, will address the issue at the Roland Park Civic League meeting on Jan. 7, Spevak said, adding, "There should be communication as to why this is a good idea and why this is safe."

He said he has also invited City Council members Mary Pat Clarke and Sharon Green Middleton, who represent the Roland Park area, to the meeting.

The Roland Park fire station is home to Engine No. 44 and Truck No. 25. More than twice a week on average, one or the other sits "unusable" in the station, or is used by another station, Spevak said.

The practice doesn't sit well with the civic league, which is fresh from last year's successful battle to stop development of Baltimore Country Club land.

Now, the league has a new fire to put out. And it's personal for many residents, who raised $40,000 to $50,000 in the past year to help renovate the aging station at Roland Avenue and Upland Road.

Baltimore City has approved $90,000 for renovations to the firehouse. The state legislature committed $110,000 in bond money for this year, and the community held fundraisiers such as a chili cookoff in 2008. Truelove is angry, "as someone who made chili for the chili cookoff."

"We've had much involvement with the fire department in the past year because of renovations, and nothing was said (about closures). It was certainly a surprise to us," Spevak said.

The closure of city fire units is not new. According to published reports, a fatal rowhouse fire Dec. 9 in west Baltimore led several City Council members and the city's former fire chief, William Goodwin, to chastise the fire department for closing five different fire company units on a rotating basis to save the city $3 million.

Spevak said he knew of the closure practice, but which stations were involved weren't identified, he said. The city didn't inform the civic league about the Roland Park closures until last week when Spevak said he received confirmation from fire commissioner Nathan.

In the league's newest "e-newsletter," Spevak writes, "This past week, equipment was out of service for three days in a row. During these periods, this leaves Roland Park dependent on equipment coming from longer distances."

Spevak told the Baltimore Messenger the civic league is fact-finding at this point and he is not passing judgment yet.

But he did note that many Roland Park houses are made of wood, and that the community lost Matthew and Abigail Young to a house fire in December 2007.

"We are strong supporters of the Roland Park fire station and the city," Spevak said. "It's certainly a legitimate concern by a community when fire equipment is being moved out or unused."

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