33 HOUSE

The Kentland Volunteer Fire Department was founded in 1951 by Bob Baeschlin and John Wilding when it was decided that there was not adequate fire protection for this, at the time, rural area minutes from Washington DC. Bob called ten neighbors to his house one night and decided they would start a volunteer fire department to protect their homes. Although each new fire department in Prince George's County, Maryland gets the proceeding number from the last established department, Bob fought for the 33 for the department after Station 32 was taken in front of the county council. 33 was the number of Bob's favorite football player Sammy Ball who played for the Washington Redskins, the team coincidently now playing in Landover, down the street from today's firehouse. After Bob and fellow volunteer fireman Steve Yuhasz put there houses up for mortgage they purchased a 1941 World War I surplus Ford pumper from the Silver Hill Fire Dept. to serve as Kentland 33's first piece of apparatus. The engine was kept at Bob's house on East Inwood Street where people would call to report a fire, and Bob would crank up the siren to tell all the volunteers in the community there was a call. KVFD was now on its way to becoming one of the best fire departments in the world.I edited my profile with kentland 33 editor