Published: June 3, 2026
HARPER CITY, Maryland County — The commander of the Liberia Fire Service detachment in Maryland County says his officers are responding to emergencies without equipment, working out of a building that floods in the rain and have been chased away from fire scenes by residents who know they have nothing to fight with.
Maj. Nathaniel Williams raised the alarm in remarks to journalists Wednesday, describing conditions at the Harper City fire station as an embarrassment that repeated appeals to national headquarters in Monrovia have failed to fix.
“It is so embarrassing for this place to be in this condition,” Williams said. “We have been addressing government officials, including our office in Monrovia, about the current state of this building.”
Williams said the building has been in disrepair since he assumed command on Jan. 4, 2019. Temporary patchwork repairs have not held. When it rains, water flows through the structure, forcing officers off their desks and onto the porch to wait out the weather. “We have to wait until the rain stops before we can sit down,” he said.
The equipment situation is equally dire. “We don’t have materials for operations — no equipment, no buckets, nothing to fight fire with,” Williams said. That absence has made the detachment a target of public ridicule during emergencies. Residents have confronted officers arriving at fire scenes and told them to leave. Williams said he was personally chased away from a house fire on Green Street while attempting to assist.
“Citizens intimidate us whenever there is a fire outbreak,” he said. “Some even tell us, ‘You don’t have one bucket, so why are you coming here?'”
Williams estimated the cost of renovating the fire station at more than $9,000, describing the work as urgent not only for current operations but to protect future equipment, including a fire truck he said is expected from national headquarters. He called on the government to improve mobility, recruit and train volunteers and provide logistical support to strengthen fire prevention and emergency response across Maryland County.
Discussion about this post