35 Cambridge Road, joined to the town highway garage
Chief
Garrett Bartlett, also the Town Fire Warden
The station
35 Cambridge Rd
No photograph yet.
If you have a picture of this station, send it in — it
will be credited to you.
Engine 10, a 2017 E-One pumper (1,250 gpm, 1,280 gallons), first out to alarms and fires; Engine 11, a 1995 Desorcie pumper that supplies water; Tanker 12, a 1992 Desorcie with 1,800 gallons; and Rescue 14, a 2008 E-One rescue carrying the Jaws of Life. Source
Westford's volunteers organised in 1982 to give the town fire protection and mutual aid for its neighbours. Members come from Westford, Cambridge, Essex and Jericho.
1982
The Westford Volunteer Fire Department is established by community members.
2025
33 calls in the fiscal year, motor vehicle crashes the largest share. Joint training with Fairfax and Essex, including a live burn in a donated building. The paid-on-call programme, giving volunteers modest pay, is in its second year, and a new pumper-tanker is being built, expected in spring 2026.
Calls
A rural town with few hydrants: the department drafts from ponds and dry hydrants and shuttles water by tanker, and is often called to tanker task forces in neighbouring towns.
Calls by type, fiscal 2025
Motor vehicle crashes11
Carbon monoxide alarms4
EMS and rescue assists4
Cancelled en route4
Chimney fires2
Mutual aid2
Structure fire1
Smoke or gas in a building1
Fire alarm1
Tree down1
Goodwill call1
July 2024 to June 2025. The report gives 33 calls; its list adds up to 32.
Westford 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.
Money
The fire budget for fiscal 2027 was proposed unchanged from fiscal 2026. The capital plan puts money aside each year for the next engine, air packs, extrication tools, turnout gear and the rescue truck.
Fiscal year 2027 (proposed)
Fire Department, total
$137,668
Operations
$69,086
Capital reserve
$39,730
Loan payment, pumper truck
$28,852
Fiscal 2025 actual spending was $147,204.
Fire capital plan, fiscal 2027–2031
FY2029
$61,704
FY2030
$47,704
FY2028
$43,100
FY2027
$39,730
FY2031
$32,604
Largest year first. The plan replaces the 1995 tanker in 2026, at $675,000.
Working here
Westford Fire is recruiting firefighters, fire police and auxiliary support. Training is provided and no experience is needed.
16 or over; under-18s need a parent's permission
Apply by email, at the town office or at Monday training, 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the station
About six months' probation, then full membership
CPR/AED and the free online ICS 100 and 700 courses within a 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
Burn permitsApply online. The Fire Warden opens or closes the system each day, and closes it when strong winds are forecast.
AmbulanceEssex Rescue and Fairfax Rescue, which covers the north of town.
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.