Most of Townshend's calls are crashes, DHART helicopter landings at Grace Cottage Hospital, and assists for odors, alarms and people needing help. The department also builds and tests the town's fire ponds.
1952
The Townshend fire house is built.
2018
A truck committee forms to replace a 32-year-old engine, and finds a standard chassis will not fit the old station; a building committee follows.
2025
Another fire pond is established with the Trousdell family, and every pond in town is tested. A second brush truck is bought by bid from the Town of Bradford.
2026
A new pumper, ordered three years earlier, is due by September.
Townshend in Windham County. Every fire station in the county is marked —
1 here, 29 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 town's budget carries the fire house and fire vehicles; voters also put money aside for a truck and for fire ponds.
Fiscal year 2027 (proposed)
Mutual aid district dues
$25,000
Fire house equipment
$10,000
Communications
$6,000
Fuel oil
$5,000
Fire house repair
$2,000
Fire house and department, $52,900 in all; fire vehicles are a further $8,800.
Reserves asked of voters, 2026 warning
Fire truck capital fund, toward a future pumper
$20,000
Fire department reserve, for vehicle repair
$15,000
Fire pond reserve
$4,000
Articles XIII to XV of the town meeting warning.
Working here
The department provides all equipment and training. Like most volunteer departments, it is always looking for members.
Training in-house or through the West River Training Group, with support for formal courses such as Firefighter I
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
Burn permitsFrom the town clerk or the fire warden; call mutual aid dispatch, 603-352-1291, before burning.
Fire pondsKnow of a good spot for a pond? Tell any officer.
Read in October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Not recorded yet
Nothing is written up here for burn permits, call volume.
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.