Rutland's department works from one central station on Center Street. It answers fires in homes, businesses and industry, crashes, hazardous materials, confined-space and high-angle rope rescues, and natural disasters.
1829
The Rutland Fire Society is organised by Act of the Vermont Legislature and buys a used hand-pump engine, the Torrent.
1858
Nickwackett Engine Company No. 1 forms and builds a house at Center and Nickwackett Streets for $1,200.
1860
Washington Engine Company No. 2 and Union Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 are organised; they later move into the new city hall on Washington Street.
1868
Fires burn the west side of Main Street, the north side of Center Street and both sides of Merchants Row. The town buys an Amoskeag steamer, the first in Vermont, and forms the Killington Steamer Company.
1874
Between 1874 and 1886 five hose companies are formed, at the height of Rutland's volunteer era.
1894
With 225 volunteers and insurance rates climbing, the new city starts a paid department on 1 January: eight full-time men and 32 call men, with horse-drawn hose wagons at two stations. It answers 100 calls in its first year.
100 calls that year
1916
The first motorised apparatus arrives from American LaFrance. The last horses are gone by 1929.
1970
A new central station opens on Center Street, approved by voters in 1969 for $500,000, replacing the two old stations.
1973
The Berwick Hotel fire on 7 January kills five residents. The city calls in eight towns for mutual aid in sub-zero cold.
1974
Firefighters join the International Association of Fire Fighters as Local 2323.
1975
The department has 36 full-time firefighters and 24 call members, and begins answering medical emergencies.
1981
Rutland starts the first paramedic programme in Vermont.
Rutland City in Rutland County. Every fire station in the county is marked —
1 here, 37 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
The fire department's budget for fiscal 2027 is $4.6 million of the city's $27.5 million, up $290,027 on the year, most of it in salaries.
Fiscal year 2027, as approved
Salaries
$2,424,182
Health insurance
$599,846
Workers' compensation
$350,000
Pensions (VMERS and city)
$258,081
Social Security and Medicare
$208,889
Overtime, training and events
$198,000
The six largest lines in the fire department's budget detail; the department total is $4,628,606.
Fire department budget, by year
FY2027
$4,628,606
FY2026
$4,338,579
The general fund also moves $175,000 a year to the fire equipment fund, in both years.
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
Fire safetyThe department's guides on smoke alarms, woodstoves, holiday safety and reducing risks for older adults.
Non-emergency line802-773-1812, at 104 Center Street. Dial 911 for emergencies.
Read in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Not recorded yet
Nothing is written up here for joining, 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.