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The county has finished installation of two 30,000-gallon water tanks in the rural tier, allowing local firefighters to tap into 10 times as much water as the small tankers they had been relying on to smother south county fires.

The first tank was installed Nov. 13, and county workers finished installing the second Friday.

Unlike the more suburban areas of southern Prince George's County, the roughly 50-square-mile rural area served by the Baden Volunteer Fire Department is not equipped with fire hydrants, which often makes it difficult to quickly address the 500 fires the department faces each year, said Mark Brady, spokesman for the county's fire and EMS department.

Most county municipalities have fire hydrants, allowing firefighters to quickly draw water when they respond to a blaze, Brady said, adding that as the population continues to grow in the Baden area, hydrants could become a possibility.

The water tanks are expected to help smother flames more quickly, said Baden volunteer firefighter Bobby Breen.

Previously, the department used tankers, fire vehicles that could each hold 2,250 to 3,500 gallons of water. Firefighters would form a caravan of tankers, known as a tanker shuttle or a tanker relay, and dispatch three tankers, holding a maximum total of 10,500 gallons, to an average-sized fire, Breen said. For larger blazes, firefighters would call for two additional tankers to be dispatched from available departments in south county.

Using tankers is not the most efficient solution, Breen said, as it allows for the fire to continue growing while water is located and transported.

The two new tanks — one housed near the intersection of Dr. Bowen Road and Aquasco Road in Aquasco, and the second behind the fire station on Brandywine Road in Brandywine— are each 53 feet long and 10 feet wide. The tanks sit 15 to 16 feet underground to keep the water from freezing.

"A tank will probably last us an hour worth of firefighting activity, and certainly we hope to have the fire [extinguished] by then," said Breen, a 26-year county veteran. "[The supply] depends on the need that the fire dictates."

The water tanks are funded by the Capital Improvement Program budget and are estimated to cost $40,000 each.

That price includes the cost of shipping the tanks from Texas, said Breed, who could not estimate the total cost of installation.

The county has offered to pay for a third tank for the Baden area, Breen said.

"This is a major improvement to the firefighting infrastructure in rural tier," Breen said. "The fires won't get ahead of us."