This is the official Facebook page of the Rehoboth (MA) Fire Department
About the Fire Department
The department covers a 46 square mile area and serves a population of more than 11,000 residents. Our jurisdiction also includes Interstate 195 and State highways 6, 44, and 118. We have a mix of property to protect from large farms to single family homes to industrial to commercial. We are mostly a rural community with vast wooded areas and no municipal water supply that presents special challenges to firefighting and requires specialized equipment to mitigate incidents.
The department is made up of approximately 70 paid on-call staff members assigned to three strategically located stations in the north, center, and south districts of the town. Firefighters are only compensated for hours actually spent at incidents training and one three hour duty shift per month. Our operating budget is $66,050 or $5.75 per resident, which makes us the lowest cost per capita department in the area. The Chief is the only full-time member. His is a permanent appointment by the Rehoboth Board of Selectmen, under Chapter 48 of the General Laws meaning that he can only be removed for just cause after a hearing. The Fire Chief organizes the three fire companies in Rehoboth with such membership as may be approved by the Board of Selectmen. He also has the authority to appoint a captain and other officers for each fire company. The Chief also serves as the town Forest Fire Warden and represents the department on various municipal committees.
The department assists and receives assistance from surrounding communities through mutual aid. We are also members of the Bristol County Task Force and the State mutual aid system. These systems also allow access to specialized equipment and resources throughout the region.
The department has been equipped by the town with quality apparatus and equipment that has proven invaluable to our mission. We have also acquired used and surplus equipment and apparatus over the years to assist with our specialized operations. As stated previously, the town has no municipal water system. This requires us to bring our initial supply with us to incidents requiring fire suppression. We have three tanker trucks in our fleet with a capacity of 10,000 gallons of water.
Along with our other apparatus that would typically respond to this type of incident, we arrive with 13,000 + gallons of water. Our vast wooded areas require us to also maintain various size “brush trucks” with off road capability. You may view all of our apparatus elsewhere on the official site. We also staff Fire Prevention and Public Education divisions within our department.
The focus of the department has been and will continue to be valuable service to the residents and visitors of the community, professional development of a well-trained and competent membership, and the safety of our citizens. In addition, we strive to conserve resources, operate safely, and be valuable members of the town and contribute in any way we can.
We invite you to visit our stations, meet our staff, and tour our facilities and equipment. If you have any questions, are interested in joining us, or need information about any of our programs you can contact us through the links throughout the site. We are glad to hear from you
