The West Barnstable Fire District is quasi-municipal government that provides fire protection, fire inspection & code enforcement, emergency medical service (EMS) at the advanced life support (ALS) level, community risk reduction and education, and streetlights to the Village of West Barnstable, Massachusetts. In 2014 the state legislature authorized the Fire District to provide financial support to West Barnstable’s Whelden Memorial Library, and it has done so every year since.
The Fire District is also authorized to provide a public water supply to the Village of West Barnstable but does not do so, and there are no plans to do so.
The West Barnstable Fire District is one of 144 Special Taxing Districts and one of 26 Fire Districts in Massachusetts. Special Taxing Districts are quasi-municipal governments that have their own elected officials, bylaws, and taxing authority. Special Taxing Districts are limited to a scope of services defined by the state legislature.
Fire districts are created by the Commonwealth and not by a city or town. Fire districts are created only when a city or town chooses not to organize a fire department. According to General Law Chapter 48 Section 61, before a fire district can be created the town must consider a petition to create a fire department at a town meeting and refuse or neglect to so do. If the town chooses to create a fire department, then no district can be created. This procedure dates back, in one form or other, to 1844.
A fire district is governed by a district meeting that is similar to an open town meeting. Each fire district has a moderator who has the same powers as a moderator in towns with a town meeting (GL Chapter 48 Section 66).
Fire district executive authority is given to a prudential committee. Prudential committees are roughly the equivalent of a combined board of selectmen and finance committee from a town form of government. According to GL Chapter 48 Section 71, the prudential committee “shall expend, for the purposes prescribed by the district, the money so raised or borrowed, and shall choose a treasurer. This means that the prudential committee must use its money only for the purposes of the district. For instance, they can’t use district funds to pay for playgrounds, schools, roads, or other non-fire/EMS/water purposes, unless authorized by the legislature.
Fire districts raise money through property taxation (GL Chapter 49 Section 69) “for the purchase of engines and other articles necessary for the extinguishment of fires, for hydrant and water service, for the purchase of land, for the erection and repairs of necessary buildings, for the erection and maintenance of street lamps within their limits, for the purchase, operation and maintenance of ambulances . ”The power to purchase ambulances was added to the law in 1950.
Did you notice the statement about raising money for street lamps?This is a curious power for a fire district, and it goes all the way back to 1844.The West Barnstable Fire District operates and maintains 91 streetlights in our Village.
Fire districts may also collect fees for certain services, typically ambulance fees and inspection fees.
Once a fire district is legally established then the fire district creates a fire department by appointing a chief engineer (think “fire chief”) and “as many assistant engineers, enginemen, hosemen, and hook and ladder men as they may consider necessary. ”The law limits these appointments to no more than seventy-five (75) per engine and twenty-five (25) per hook and ladder. You can also have five hosemen for each 150’ of hose.
Over the years, each fire district in Massachusetts has evolved into slightly different structures. Some have both a prudential committee and fire commissioners, while others combine the two (as does West Barnstable).All of these changes come from legislative authorizations and/or from bylaw changes voted at annual fire district meetings.
In West Barnstable, the Prudential Committee appoints the fire chief. The fire chief and the Prudential Committee jointly appoint the deputy fire chief. The fire chief appoints the firefighters, emergency medical responders, officers, and administrative staff. The fire chief also acts as the business manager of the fire district.
While Massachusetts doesn’t have many fire districts compared to its total number of fire departments, fire districts are more common nationally. In some states like Pennsylvania, the fire district is the more common form of organization of fire departments. Connecticut has a great many fire districts, as does Rhode Island.
Fire districts aren’t the only kind of districts found in Massachusetts. There are water districts, electric light districts, recreation districts, road districts, sewer districts and refuse districts. In total, there are 144 local districts of varying types in Massachusetts.
Barnstable in 1935
Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills in 1926
Cotuit in 1926
Hyannis in 1896
West Barnstable in 1949
Adams Fire District
Barnstable Fire District
Bondsville Fire & Water District
Buckland Fire District
Centerville- Osterville- Marstons Mills FD
Cotuit Fire District
Dalton Fire & Water District
Dartmouth Fire District #1
Dartmouth Fire District #2
Dartmouth Fire District #3
Deerfield Fire District
Hyannis Fire District
Montague Center Fire District
Onset Fire District
Palmer Fire District #1
Shelburne Falls Fire District
Shelburne Fire District
South Deerfield Fire District
South Hadley Fire District #1
South Hadley Fire District #2
Three Rivers Fire District
Turners Falls Fire District
Wareham Fire District
West Barnstable Fire District
Williamston Fire District
Worthington Fire District