The department's one station, which it gives as 2 Lincoln Street. Ladder 3, a 2013 Pierce Arrow XT with a 105-foot aerial; Engine 5, a 2008 KME carrying the extrication gear; Engine 7, a 2018 Pierce Arrow XT, first due to fires; and Car 9, a 2019 Ford F-150 for command, first response and wildland fires. The three big rigs carry the names of the old companies that became Essex Junction Fire: Five Corners Hook & Ladder, Hubbells Falls Engine and Painesville Hose. Source
Essex Junction's department began as a bucket brigade on the day the village was chartered. It is still paid on call: its members work full time as teachers, electricians, nurses, carpenters and engineers, and answer the tones when neighbours need help.
1893
On 4 March voters approve the village charter, and the department begins the same day as a volunteer bucket brigade.
1895
In December the department buys its first chemical engine, for $750. No fire calls are recorded that year; three are in 1896.
1909
The first alarm box: a rope tied to the striker on the Congregational Church. Break the glass, and pull hard and fast.
1927
The first motorised rig, a Foamite-Childs pumper. In 1929 it helps Burlington twice, the first recorded mutual aid to the city.
1948
An American-LaFrance pumper arrives in July; it serves the village until 1987.
1960
The first recorded operating budget: $6,429.
1962
On 30 November a tank truck carrying 3,000 gallons of vinyl acetate overturns and burns near the Green Mountain Power station on Park Street. The NFPA calls it the first fire of its kind in the country.
1984
On 7 July the department answers the Amtrak derailment in Williston: 35 members, 559 hours of rescue work, and national praise.
2006
In June the station is dedicated to former Assistant Chief Ernie Martin, after his 65 years of service.
2024
The roster stands at 39, six of them new that year. The city starts paying members for training.
584 calls that year
2025
Calls rise 14% in a year.
666 calls that year
Calls
Essex Rescue is the city's ambulance; the fire department's first responders are sent when Essex Rescue is already on a call and a second one comes in. In 2024 the department gave mutual aid 110 times, 84 of them to the Town of Essex, and received it 24 times.
Calls for service by year
5842024
6662025
Calendar years. The 2025 review gives 2024 as 572; the bar uses the 584 in the department's own 2024 review.
Calls by type, 2025
First response and medical217
Minor fires and fire alarms145
Public assistance120
Assists to Essex Police and Rescue51
Miscellaneous51
Fires45
Motor vehicle crashes37
666 calls in all.
Essex Junction City in Chittenden County. Every fire station in the county is marked —
1 here, 26 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
Members are paid on call, starting at $17.50 an hour with a two-hour minimum on every call and $1 an hour more for each certification: Firefighter I and II, EMT, Advanced EMT. Gear and classes are paid for.
18 or over, living within responding distance of the station; no experience needed
New members take the Chittenden County Basic Course, which runs each February and October
Respond to about 10% of fire calls, roughly 40 a year, and train 10 hours a quarter
Experienced firefighters who meet the interior requirements can be hired any time of year
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.
For residents
Knox Box programmeRequired for new and changing commercial and apartment buildings; available for homes too.
Fire prevention visitsPresentations, extinguisher training and station tours on request.
Recent callsThe department writes up its working fires.
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.