Townsend Fire EMS Department

Townsend Fire-EMS has a long, proud history of service to our community. With four full-time members, we are primarily a paid, on-call department. Our members, in general, respond from their homes to answer calls for emergency fire and EMS service.The Townsend Fire Department was formed in 1875 with three companies – Squannacook Hook and Ladder (Center), Eclipse (West Townsend) and Harbor Hose (Townsend Harbor). These three companies continue to serve our community today, with the Center and West companies still occupying their original 1870’s buildings.nnIn 1980, Townsend Municipal Ambulance Service was founded, moving emergency medical services into its own town department, separating its operation from the Townsend Police Department. The service grew and matured into a two-ambulance BLS service until the late 1990s, when it received its paramedic-level license from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services. In 2000, TMAS launched “Medic-1,” the first municipally-operated, paramedic-level, non-transporting ambulance in the Commonwealth. At Medic-1’s height, it served six area towns as the sole paramedic-level response vehicle in the area.nnIn 2005, the Townsend Fire Department merged with the Townsend Municipal Ambulance Service to form Townsend Fire-EMS. Today, the department operates five separate buildings housing four engines, a ladder, a tanker, three forestry units, special operations vehicle, bucket truck, lighting plant and two paramedic-level ambulances. Our primary ambulance is staffed with two crew members at the paramedic level 24 hours a day, seven days a week.