Residents of North County now have increased fire protection after the new $5.5 million Parkton fire station was dedicated and put into service June 9.

Station 60 is the first career fire company in an area traditionally served by volunteers. Before the station on Middletown Road -- behind the Park 'N' Ride lot -- opened, Engine 60 operated out of a trailer at the old Parkton Landfill. The paid firefighters were on duty Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now, they work 24 hours a day.

"This building marks an historic step that started four county executives ago," Baltimore County Fire Chief John Hohman said at the ceremony.

The three-bay station has a bunk room, a weight room and a kitchen. It houses one fire engine, a brush unit, a vehicle used to fight brush fires, and a medic unit that will provide medical services 24 hours a day.

The Parkton station's coverage area, where they are expected to be the first to respond, was carved out of the Hereford and Maryland Line volunteer companies' areas. All of the fire companies will continue to respond to major fires or fires involving residences, and each stands ready to respond to another's area when that station is already on a call.

"The north end of the county deserves career service. Our calls might drop from the 811 we had last year to 600 or so, but that's not a bad thing," said Chuck Bollinger, Hereford Volunteer Fire Company chief. "They're here not because we can't do our job, but because taxpayers up here pay the same as other parts of the county and now they're getting services the rest of the county already has."

At the ceremony, both Hohman and County Executive Jim Smith were upstaged by first-graders from the nearby Our Lady of Grace School. The 19 boys and girls received thunderous applause after they recited a poem, "Firefighters," they wrote just for the occasion:

"Firefighters brave and strong, kind and gentle they come along

And save the people in a car, in the house, no matter were they are.

They fight the flames and the smoke, facing danger more than most.

We thank God for the firefighter in our town for he keeps us safe and sound."

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