On December 7, 2008, a devastating fire destroyed two houses on Shore Drive, severely damaged a third and less severely damaged two others across the street.. No one was injured but a beloved family pet, beagle Yogi Jaicks, was lost in the fire.

The two destroyed houses were the principal residences of the Jaicks and O'Connor families. The severely damaged house was the weekend residence of Jim and Penny Bruce.

The Board of Directors and the Officers of Oyster Harbor are focusing their full attention on this tragedy, on how to help the families, and how to work with the County to make sure emergency plans are in place.

Our County Councilman, Josh Cohen, is very concerned about our community. He called us early in the morning the day after the fire, to express his concern and to see what he can do to help to ensure that we are protected in emergencies such as this.

You may have seen or heard news reports stating that Oyster Harbor residents are not happy with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department's response to the fire. Above all, the Community thanks all of the firefighters from the County, the City of Annapolis, and several other jurisdictions in Maryland coming to our rescue. And we are concerned for the fire personnel who were injured that night.

There are many things that make Oyster Harbor and other communities on Annapolis Neck and the Chesapeake Bay difficult for firefighters. The Directors and Officers of Oyster Harbor are communicating with the County to have a full understanding of what the neighborhood and the County can do -- as a team -- to avoid logistical problems, which will not be solved with completion of the fire house now under construction.

You should also know that the Board has sent letters of appreciation to the Fire Departments that responded and expressing its concern for the two Anne Arundel County firefighters who were injured.

What we have learned is that during a tragedy such as the fire on Shore Drive, seconds seem like hours and minutes like days. Many of the residents at the fire were absolutely positive it took 30 to 45 minutes for the Fire Department to arrive. We learned through the receipt of the Fire Department tapes that the arrival times were, in fact, under 10 minutes. And with the addition of the new Fire Station 8 at the corner of Arundel-on-the-Bay and Bay Ridge Roads, which will open in May, the response times will be even shorter.

We also learned from the Fire Department, in the press, that had Fire Station 8 been operational it would not have changed the outcome of this fire. While it will speed the response time, it will not change the fact that we have no public water. And that is our problem: not the response time, but the plans and operations of the Fire Department and a viable and an immediate source of water with which to fight fire in this community.

Subsequent to the fire, a tremendous amount of research has been done. We have found that Oyster Harbor is not alone in having no fire hydrants and no public water. Some two-thirds of Anne Arundel County has no fire hydrants and no public water.

The irony, of course, is that the houses that burned were surrounded by water. The Fire Department had a very difficult time getting water on the fire and were shuttling the water from a hydrant near Hillsmere Elementary School. This seems odd to many of us who think the answer is very simple. But not one of us who has been critiquing the Fire Department’s operations that night is a fire fighter or close to being an expert in fire fighting.

The Insurance Services Office, known as the ISO, provides insurance companies that write policies for homeowners, ratings on which to base the premiums. Our community, along with many others in our situation, has a rating of 9 out of 10 with 10 being uninsurable.

We have contacted, and are obtaining information from, the ISO, the National Fire Protection Association, the National Fire Investigators Association, Department of Natural Resources/Forest Division, and the US Fire Administration (a division of FEMA). Many of the reports from these websites have been put on the OHCA website for your review.

And while we are doing our best to educate ourselves, something every homeowner should do, we are still far from experts in this field.

One significant finding was that Anne Arundel County just received a report in November 2008 on the issue of Fire and EMS in the County. This can be found on the Anne Arundel County website at this address: www.aacounty.org/Fire/Resources/TriData_2008.pdf. A link to it is also on our community website. As this is your Fire Department, we urge you to read this report. The Oyster Harbor Board and Officers have requested and are expecting a full and complete report from the County and may contract with an independent fire expert to prepare a report as well.

The community leadership is teaming with the County and the Fire Department and putting every effort into finding solutions to the problems that occurred on the night of December 7.

Our District Councilman, Josh Cohen, and his Judicial Aide, Gail Smith, have been an outstanding resource and continue to be a tremendous help.

The Board and officers will have much more to report to the community after the first of the year.