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Matthew W. MILBURN
ALLEGANY COUNTY, MD (June 9, 2023) - Deputy State Fire Marshals arrested a West Virginia man after he impersonated a firefighter and attempted to use a two-way radio to cancel responding fire and EMS units called to a Pekin house for a medical emergency.
Matthew W. Milburn, 32, of Romney, who is not affiliated with a fire or EMS department, was charged with impersonating a firefighter and impeding emergency transmissions after a 911 call was made earlier this week.
On Tuesday, around 2:45 p.m., Barton Hose Company and the George's Creek Ambulance Service were called to the 17100 block of Pekin Street for a medical emergency. While responding, Fire Chief Kevin Rounds heard over an online cell phone app called Zello - a person calling himself "Captain 38". The person, later identified as Milburn, told responding firefighters that the unconscious subject was "10-4" and they could cancel their response. When first responders arrived, they saw Milburn walking away. The 911 caller told them they had used Narcan to reverse the effects of a drug overdose on a family member earlier, and Milburn used the radio to make the transmission. Rounds called for Milburn to come back, and when he did, the fire chief recognized the two-way radio attached to his belt as a device that could transmit over radio frequencies. Milburn gave the radio to the fire chief and ran away.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal was requested to investigate. Coincidently, while investigators were searching for Milburn yesterday to question him about the radio transmission, Allegany County Sheriff's Office received a call for a dispute between neighbors with a gun in the 19200 block of Legislative Road. Deputy State Fire Marshals responded to the home and located Milburn. He was arrested on a Garrett County bench warrant, and Milburn admitted to investigators he was the person on the radio.
Milburn was charged in a similar incident in Virginia in April 2017. In that incident, Milburn was charged with three counts of impersonating a firefighter. He admitted to Frederick County Fire Marshal investigators that he had identified himself over the radio as a unit from the Reynolds Store Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company 20 in Cross Junction, even though he was not a member of that organization.