Fire/EMS Station and Administrative Offices Locked Down During Police Activity in Area

A Fire/EMS Station and a Department administrative office building were closed down for a short period of time this morning as police searched for suspects in the area. The Landover Hills Fire/EMS Station #830 and the Cranford-Graves Fire Services Building (FSB) were locked down just before 7:30 AM, Monday, June 08, 2009. The police had been involved in a chase of 4 robbery suspects in a vehicle. The chase ended up with a crash at 68th Avenue and Annapolis Road and the suspects fled on foot into the community with police officers close behind. Fire/EMS Station #830 is located at the same intersection as the crash and was a convergence point for a large number of police vehicles and officers and as the situation developed, a prudent decision was made to keep firefighters and paramedics inside the station. Within the short period of time they were locked down Paramedic Unit 830 did not respond on one incident that they normally would have in the Tuxedo area. Another Paramedic Unit, Bunker Hill #855, immediately replaced them and responded to the incident which ended up not needing advanced life support intervention and handled by a basic life support ambulance.

The Cranford-Graves Fire Service Building, 6820 Webster Street, located 1 block away from the Fire/EMS Station, was also locked down as police activity moved in that direction. Due to the early hour, only a handful of employees were affected.

Fire/EMS Station #830 resumed normal dispatch operations about 10 minutes after the lock down while personnel from the station and the FSB remained inside their facilities while the police search continued.