Burke has two fire departments, one on each side of town, and both are busier than ever. East Burke answered about 35 calls a year in the early 2000s; in 2025 it set a record for the third year running.
2025
East Burke answers 115 incidents, including remote rescues and eight calls in four hours during the summer flooding, when it helped bring in state swift-water teams. Its main engine suffers a catastrophic mechanical failure. For 2026 it asks the town for $50,000 to keep operating, buy modern gear, train and maintain its trucks.
115 calls that year
Calls
East Burke's 2025 response: 8 minutes 53 seconds from dispatch to the first truck leaving, 13:13 to the first arriving, six members on an average call, and 58 minutes on scene. Its 21 members trained 544 hours. West Burke, 100% volunteer, answered 89 calls in its latest year, its most ever; its budget covers running costs but not major repairs.
West Burke VFD calls by type
Alarm activations26
Motor vehicle crashes19
Medical assists12
Fires, structure and chimney9
Grass and wildland9
Trees or power lines down6
Investigations3
Service calls2
Vehicle fires2
Station coverage1
89 calls, from the department's most recent year-end report.
Burke in Caledonia County. Every fire station in the county is marked —
2 here, 13 in neighbouring towns, which is
who turns out on a mutual aid call.
Boundaries and water from VCGI; fire district lines are not town lines, and
village districts and contracted coverage cross them. A town line runs out into
the lake, so the shoreline here is the water drawn over the boundary, not the
boundary itself.
Working here
Both departments want volunteers.
West Burke meets every other week
Contact either department through the town's fire departments page
In an emergency dial 911. These are business lines.
Burning
Vermont requires a Permit to Kindle Fire from the town’s Forest Fire Warden for anything larger than a campfire — except where snow covers the ground at the burn site, or the fire is at least 200 feet from anything that will carry flame. Wardens can suspend burning outright when fire danger is high. Who to ask locally is recorded department by department; where it is blank below, the fire department itself is the place to start.
Read in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Not recorded yet
Nothing is written up here for burn permits, budget.
Not because it does not exist — because nobody has typed it in. If you know this
department, tell us and it goes on the record with its
source named.