Dorset is covered by two departments, each a fire district of its own: Dorset Fire Department on Route 30 and East Dorset Fire Department on Village Street. Fire district taxes now appear on the town's property tax bill.
2024
Dorset Fire Department has its busiest year on record, adds a new attack truck and starts building a 3,000-gallon tanker. Manchester's police begin dispatching for East Dorset.
144 calls that year
2025
East Dorset answers 148 calls, puts in 550 hours of in-house training and 1,480 firefighter-hours on calls, and holds monthly winter pancake breakfasts toward a side-by-side to replace a 20-year-old six-wheeler.
Dorset in Bennington County. Every fire station in the county is marked —
2 here, 21 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.
Money
Each district sets its own budget.
Fiscal year 2027 (budget)
Dorset Fire District, fire budget
$215,503
East Dorset Fire District
$167,537
Dorset's fire budget was $209,250 for fiscal 2026; East Dorset's was $157,537.
East Dorset's largest lines, fiscal 2027
Truck payment
$36,237
Firehouse maintenance and repair
$13,500
Apparatus maintenance and repair
$11,500
From the district's budget in the town report.
Working here
Dorset Fire Department is recruiting firefighters, drivers and firehouse helpers. Training, gear and expenses are covered, with a stipend based on involvement.
Weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 7 pm at each station
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.
For residents
Burn permitsWhen burning is allowed, you need a written permit from a fire department official.
Read in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Not recorded yet
Nothing is written up here for burn permits.
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.