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SSVFD’s Roth takes over leadership of state firefighters’ Ladies Auxiliary –

by Terri Hogan

Senior Staff Writer

and

Judith Hruz

Editor

Marcia Roth of Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department is the 87th president of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Maryland State Firemen’s Association, assuming the leadership position after decades of service to the fire-rescue community.

Joan Kramer, also from Sandy Spring fire department, was installed as the vice chaplain for the Ladies Auxiliary.

Officers of the Ladies Auxiliary and the Maryland State Firemen’s Association were installed June 19 in Ocean City.

The event marked the 126th annual convention for the Firemen’s Association and the 87th annual convention for the Ladies Auxiliary.

Roth served as senior vice president of the Ladies Auxiliary last year. The organization represents auxiliaries in all 24 jurisdictions in Maryland.

Roth has been active in the Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department (SSVFD) Women’s Auxiliary for approximately 35 years. She has been involved in the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association Auxiliary for 37 years, dating back to her involvement with another fire-rescue department.

She got involved at the state level because her husband, Johnie Roth, is president of SSVFD and has been a delegate to the Maryland State Firemen’s Association for several years.

“I used to just tag along, but I started getting involved about 15 years ago,” she said, adding she has “thoroughly enjoyed it.“

She said: “Johnie got me started, but it became a cause and my way of giving back to the community.”

Kramer served as historian of the state organization last year.

She joined the Women’s Auxiliary at SSVFD when her son, Brian Andrews, began volunteering 20 years ago.

She is the past president of the SSVFD Women’s Auxiliary and past president and current secretary of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association Auxiliary.

“I have watched firefighters run into burning buildings to save people, and I want to do everything I possibly can for my son and the other firefighters,” Kramer said. “Firefighters are family.”

She added: “At the state level, I can be even more proactive. I have a lot of friends who have moved to Leisure World. There is nothing scarier than a fire in a high-rise. I care about protecting the firefighters and the community.”

Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department has the largest auxiliary of the fire and rescue department in Montgomery County. It is also the oldest auxiliary in the county, forming in 1930, six years after SSVFD was incorporated in 1924.

Through its fundraising, the SSVFD auxiliary makes contributions toward the purchase of needed fire and rescue equipment.

The auxiliary helps the fire department hold its annual open house in October and supports other community efforts, such as the Olney Day Parade, National Night Out and the annual vigil in commemoration of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

The auxiliary also operates a canteen that helps firefighters stay hydrated in the summer and warm in the winter as they fight large fires.

 

For more information about Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Department, go to https://www.ssvfd.org/. For more on the auxiliary, go to https://www.ssvfd.org/auxiliary.

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