Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734

10/15/2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 14, 2026

Baltimore Fire Fighters IAFF Local 734 Responds to Inspector General’s Report on Retroactive Promotional Compensation

Baltimore Fire Fighters IAFF Local 734 has reviewed the Office of Inspector General’s report concerning retroactive promotional compensation within the Baltimore City Fire Department. While we respect the Inspector General’s responsibility to investigate the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, we believe the report raises an equally important question that deserves greater attention: Why has the City of Baltimore allowed promotional vacancies to remain unfilled for months, and in some cases years?

The report itself acknowledges that retroactive promotional compensation has been an established practice within the Baltimore City Fire Department for decades. This was not a system created by firefighters, emergency vehicle drivers, or the unions representing them. It was a longstanding compensation practice administered and approved by the City.

More importantly, the OIG’s own investigation identifies significant problems with the City’s promotional process. Of the 427 promotions reviewed, some positions had remained vacant for nearly three years before being filled. The report further acknowledges that promotional eligibility lists are frequently exhausted, leaving vacancies unfilled until another examination is administered.

Our members do not schedule promotional examinations, establish eligibility lists, process appointments, or determine when vacancies are filled. Those responsibilities belong to the City and the Fire Department.

The report also identifies the Department’s two-year promotional examination cycle and the administrative challenges associated with maintaining eligibility lists. These are management issues that Local 734 has repeatedly raised concerns about.

Instead of addressing these longstanding deficiencies, the City unilaterally discontinued retroactive promotional compensation in August 2025, despite its history as an established practice. Local 734 has challenged that decision through the appropriate labor relations process.

An Inspector General’s recommendation concerning taxpayer expenditures does not, by itself, eliminate the City’s obligations under applicable collective bargaining laws or its agreements with the unions.

Let me be clear: Local 734 supports transparency, fiscal accountability, and responsible spending of taxpayer dollars. However, accountability must extend beyond examining what employees were paid. It must also examine the administrative decisions, staffing shortages, and promotional delays that created these circumstances.

The Baltimore City Fire Department continues to operate with significant staffing shortages, inadequate apparatus availability, and deteriorating firehouse conditions. Our members are expected to provide emergency services to the citizens of Baltimore every single day, regardless of these challenges.

If the City is serious about eliminating the financial consequences associated with delayed promotions, then it must address the underlying problem: establish and maintain promotional eligibility lists, administer examinations in a timely manner, and fill vacancies without unnecessary delay.

The solution cannot simply be to eliminate a longstanding employee compensation practice while allowing the administrative problems that contributed to it to continue.

Local 734 will continue to defend our members’ contractual and collective bargaining rights while advocating for a promotional system that is timely, fair, accountable, and fiscally responsible.

Matthew Coster
President
Baltimore Fire Fighters IAFF Local 734

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International Association of Fire Fighters

10/08/2026

Baltimore Fire Fighters IAFF Local 734 extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and fellow firefighters of Firefighter Andrew Brokes, who tragically lost his life in the line of duty.

As a Local that knows the heartbreak of losing our own, we stand with our brothers and sisters during this difficult time.

Rest easy, Brother Brokes. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten.

09/27/2026

Earlier this morning, BCFD units responded to the 1300 block of Ward Street in the Pigtown community of District 10.

Crews arrived to find fire and smoke coming from a two-story, middle-of-the-group dwelling. BCFD members quickly knocked down the fire, which is now under control. No injuries have been reported.



Mayor Brandon M. Scott
Zeke Cohen
Councilwoman Phylicia Porter

Baltimore Fire Officers IAFF Local 964

09/23/2026

🚨 PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT — 8 BCFD COMPANIES CURRENTLY CLOSED 🚨

Baltimore Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 734 wants all Baltimore City residents, visitors, business owners, and property owners to be aware of the current apparatus situation within the Baltimore City Fire Department.

As of today, 3 Engine Companies and 5 Truck Companies are CLOSED due to apparatus maintenance issues.

🚒 ENGINE COMPANIES CLOSED

Engine 14 — Fort Hollins
Engine 14 has been long-term transferred to Steadman Station downtown due to repairs at their firehouse. Their apparatus is now out of service due to maintenance issues.

Engine 23 — Downtown

Engine 46 — Hilltop / Rogers Avenue

🪜 TRUCK COMPANIES CLOSED

Truck 3 — Fells Point

Truck 18 — Walbrook

Truck 21 — Brooklyn

Truck 27 — Hilltop / Rogers Avenue

Truck 29 — Alameda / Cold Spring

⚠️ WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DOWNTOWN?

With Engine 23 closed and the apparatus being used by Engine 14, which had been relocated to Steadman Station, also down, downtown Baltimore is currently left to be covered by Baltimore City’s only Heavy Rescue and companies responding from surrounding areas.

That means surrounding fire companies must travel outside their normal response areas to cover these vacancies, potentially leaving their own communities with fewer immediately available resources.

Across Baltimore, 8 frontline fire companies are currently unavailable because of apparatus maintenance issues.

When fire companies are closed, the calls do not stop.

🔥 Structure fires still happen.
🚗 Serious crashes still happen.
🏢 High-rise emergencies still happen.
🆘 Citizens still call 911 expecting help to arrive.

Seconds matter.

The men and women of the Baltimore City Fire Department continue to show up and do everything they can with the resources available to them. But our firefighters cannot respond on apparatus that is sitting in a maintenance facility.

Baltimore’s residents, visitors, businesses, and property owners deserve a Fire Department with the reliable equipment necessary to protect our city.

8 companies closed is not acceptable. Baltimore deserves better.

09/19/2026

There are moments in this job that remind you exactly why you do what you do, and being here at the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial is one of them.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to our BCFD Honor Guard, the IAFF, Colorado Springs Local 5, and all of the Honor Guard members, firefighters, families, and loved ones who came together this weekend to honor our fallen brothers and sisters.

The amount of work, dedication, respect, and attention to detail that goes into making sure our fallen are honored properly and that their families know they will never be forgotten is incredible.

Every time I come here, I leave with a renewed sense of purpose. Representing the members of IAFF Local 734 is one of the greatest honors of my life, and it is something I will never take for granted. There are difficult days, long days, and times when this responsibility can feel incredibly heavy. But standing here among thousands of firefighters and families reminds me why the fight is worth it.

This memorial is an incredibly special place. It is emotional, humbling, heartbreaking, and at the same time deeply rewarding. It reminds us that what we do is bigger than any one person, any one Local, or any one department.

To the families of our fallen: thank you for allowing us to stand beside you, remember with you, and honor your loved ones.

And to everyone who makes this memorial possible each year, thank you. You demonstrate what the words “Never Forget” truly mean.

May we always honor those who came before us, take care of those standing beside us, and never take for granted the privilege of representing the firefighters who trust us to fight for them.

Never Forget.
Until we meet again.
Matthew Coster, President Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734

09/11/2026

🇺🇸 LOCAL 734 REMEMBERS: NEVER FORGET 🇺🇸

Today, on the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, Baltimore Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 734 pauses to remember one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.

On that morning, our country came under attack:

🇺🇸 American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

🇺🇸 United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower.

🇺🇸 American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

🇺🇸 United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew courageously fought back against the hijackers.

Nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed that day, including 343 of our FDNY brothers and sisters who answered the call and made the ultimate sacrifice while trying to save others.

Twenty five years later, the sacrifice continues. Firefighters, police officers, EMS personnel, construction workers, volunteers, and others who responded to Ground Zero continue to suffer and die from illnesses linked to their exposure in the aftermath of the attacks.

We remember the victims.

We remember the firefighters and first responders who ran toward danger while others were running away.

We remember those who have died in the years since from 9/11 related illnesses.

We remember the families who have carried their loss for 25 years.

And we remember the courage, unity, and selflessness shown by Americans in the days that followed.

September 11, 2001. Never Forget.

🇺🇸 Local 734 remembers the fallen, honors the survivors, and stands with our brothers and sisters who continue to battle 9/11 related illnesses today.

343 FDNY brothers and sisters lost on September 11, 2001; and far too many more in the years since.

🇺🇸 NEVER FORGET 🇺🇸

09/11/2026

09/03/2026

🚨 HAPPENING NOW — WEST BALTIMORE 🚨

BCFD members are currently operating at a **fully involved dwelling fire in the 1700 block of Appleton Street in West Baltimore’s 7th District.

Firefighters have multiple handlines stretched and ground ladders deployed as crews work to knock down the fire and conduct searches of the dwelling.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

🔥 Baltimore’s Bravest at work.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott
Zeke Cohen
Councilman James Torrence

Baltimore Fire Officers IAFF Local 964
International Association of Fire Fighters

09/02/2026

🚨BCFD MEMBERS ALREADY AT WORK THIS MORNING🚨

Baltimore City Fire Department members are already going to work this morning in Southwest Baltimore’s 9th District.

This time, crews responded to the 400 block of Furrow Street, a street that is unfortunately no stranger to fires.

🔥 3rd Battalion units arrived to find fire involving a two-story, end-of-group dwelling, with extension into an adjacent structure. Crews went to work and made a quick knock, bringing the fire under control.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

Another morning and another reminder that while much of Baltimore is just starting its day, our members are already on the streets protecting our neighborhoods.

Mayor Brandon M. Scott
Zeke Cohen
Councilman John Bullock

Baltimore Fire Officers IAFF Local 964
International Association of Fire Fighters