By Carson Swick
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE 鈥� The Baltimore City Council鈥檚 final task on Thursday was to consider a $362 million proposed budget for the Baltimore City Fire Department, an agency that has racked up big deficits from employee overtime prompted by staffing shortages in recent years.
The $362 million proposal for the 2026 fiscal year represents a 10.7% increase from the $327 million in funding allocated to BCFD last year. 鈥淔ire Suppression and Emergency Rescue鈥� and 鈥淓mergency Medical Services鈥� are among the individual services to see the largest increases.
Of that $362 million, $339 million will now come from the city鈥檚 general fund 鈥� a reflection of the decision to eliminate the EMS special fund and transfer all $75 million in expected EMS revenue to the general fund. The department will also receive nearly $8 million in federal and state grants, about $3.24 million more than last year.
The department鈥檚 proposed fiscal 2026 budget allocates $5.2 million for the Opioid Restitution Fund 鈥� funds acquired by related to the city鈥檚 opioid crisis 鈥� for contracted EMS services. It also sets aside $500,000 to create two new positions within the Fire Code Enforcement service to 鈥渋mprove turnaround time for permit review.鈥�
BCFD Chief James Wallace said these new positions could be used to hire new inspectors in the fire marshal鈥檚 office, bringing its total staff from 33 to 35 employees.
鈥淐urrently, we have a list of eligible candidates, and that list is two deep,鈥� Wallace said during an exchange with District 1 Councilman Mark Parker . 鈥溾�� It looks like right now, the most favorable way, the path of least resistance and most timely way would be to just go through the process [and] create those two positions.鈥�
Wallace praised the budget for allocating more than $20 million to 鈥淔ire Communications and Dispatch.鈥� He said this funding would allow 911 dispatchers to utilize new 鈥済roundbreaking鈥� technologies to respond to emergencies and improve public safety.
鈥淲e are now leveraging geofencing technology and artificial intelligence in our 911 call center,鈥� the chief said. 鈥淭hese advanced tools enable us to proactively deploy resources and monitor real-time conditions with remarkable precision.鈥�
Council questioning
Leaders, including questioned Wallace about the methods being used to 鈥渞ecruit and retain鈥� BCFD employees to address the fact that the department lacks enough workers 鈥� specifically paramedics 鈥� to perform its functions without relying on widespread employee overtime. Third quarter estimates showed the department is expected to incur a $41.7 million deficit for fiscal 2025 overall, according to a by Baltimore Budget Director Laura Larsen.
鈥淐an you describe the controls that you are putting in place to 鈥� curtail overtime, and also what you are doing to recruit and retain more EMTs, paramedics into the force so that we do not continue to have this issue of exorbitant overtime with a lot of unfilled positions?鈥� Cohen asked.
Wallace responded by painting what he called a 鈥渟taffing picture鈥� of the department鈥檚 daily needs. According to the chief, BCFD requires a total of 307 employees to operate each day 鈥� a 鈥渇ield force鈥� of 242 plus 65 additional EMS workers.
The chief continued that the department currently considers 鈥渙vertime buckets鈥� when relying on overtime hours to fill shift vacancies, meaning an employee who has worked 80 hours will be asked to work an open shift before one who has worked 100 hours in a given pay period. He said the department currently maintains a spreadsheet with at least 1,000 potential candidates, but declined to elaborate on its specific retention plan because it is currently being negotiated with the Local 734 firefighters鈥� union.
鈥淚 hung out the window of a McDonald鈥檚 one night on Falls Road and recruited two people from the drive-thru. It鈥檚 that simple,鈥� Wallace said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to approach the citizens of this city, and I think we鈥檝e done a very good job of doing that.鈥�
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