Sturbridge Firefighters Local 170

09/02/2026

Happy first day of school Sturbridge! Sturbridge Firefighters wish all Burgess Bears and Tantasqua Warriors a great new school year! Drivers pay attention for school busses, children and increased traffic!

09/01/2026

Sturbridge Ambulance 1 responding

Palmer | MA | Mass Pike (I-90), Westbound in the area of MM 63 | VEHICLE ACCIDENT | Services on scene with an MVA involving a box truck with multiple injuries and heavy entrapment. Multiple mutual aid ambulances requested. Mutual aid engine from Ware requested with additional set of extrication tools | 09/01/2026 - 09:38

10:01 - 1st pt has been extricated, at this time

10:07 - 2nd pt has been extricated, at this time. All pt's in care of EMS.

Expect excessive traffic delays due to this crash

08/29/2026

Vehicle fire Friday night on I-84. Engine 2 and Tanker 1 response. Group 1 was on duty augmented by off duty callback personnel.

08/29/2026

08/28/2026

Questions: How does shift staffing affect emergency response? What happens when multiple simultaneous emergency responses occur?

Answer: The number of personnel on duty directly impacts emergency response capabilities for any fire department. National standards of staffing are 2 for an ambulance, 4 for a fire apparatus. The Sturbridge Fire Department operates the cross staffing model that many fire departments in Massachusetts utilize. Firefighter/Paramedics cross staff an ambulance and fire apparatus, responding out on whichever goes out first.

Today Group 1 is working the Friday 24 hour shift. They are one of two groups with 4 firefighters assigned currently.
Group 1: 4 firefighters
Group 2. 3 firefighters
Group 3: 4 firefighters
Group 4: 3 firefighters

*Note comparable communities by call volume in Massachusetts the majority have 5 to 7 firefighters assigned to each working group*

Group 1 being at 4 today are cross-staffing two ambulances and one engine. They could also respond out in other apparatus if needed by the nature of the call or a specific mutual aid request but day to day operations each pair is assigned to an ambulance and both ambulance crews together cross-staff the fire engine. Just today they have been out simultaneously in each ambulance as well as with an ambulance and Rescue 1 for a motor vehicle accident.

When simultaneous emergency calls come in rapid succession the personnel on duty are quickly depleted by resources responding out. Just 1 ambulance being out depletes at least 50% of the shift strength. The Sturbridge Fire Department does utilize a callback procedure to attempt to cover a call with off duty firefighters. Our call firefighters and off duty career firefighters do their best to respond in for emergencies but they are not all available 24/7. If none are available the incident response falls to mutual aid providing they are available. Often times the resource needed (most often an ambulance) is in the fire station but there are no personnel available to staff it. Response times are affected both by staffing levels and call volume.

📷 Group 1 pictured earlier this year as a visual representation of today's shift

08/28/2026

Recent emergency responses last week or so. Engine 2 responding out 100 Heritage Green Drive apartment building for odor of smoke. Ambulance 1 and LifeFlight in Holland for motorcycle accident.

08/27/2026

"It’s a sad fact that the department hasn’t grown with the city." From the article

The Framingham firefighters union commissioned a study that used all city firefighting data from 2019 through 2023.

08/26/2026

Hopkinton FF Local 3772 and MEPA Medical Education for Patient Advocacy with a great quick video on effective management of a patient in cardiac arrest. A critical patient needs: appropriate personnel on scene performing all tasks simultaneously, trained providers, and all the required medical equipment in place. In the video you see 4 Hopkinton Firefighters rapidly on scene, in Sturbridge this would be on a good day when the shift is at 4 (maximum staffing) and no other calls are taking place when the cardiac arrest occurs.

The Hopkinton Fire Department recently did some training on enhance...

08/24/2026

Monday afternoon in between emergency responses Group 3 trained on air consumption, physical conditioning and equipment location review all in full personal protective equipment (PPE). Each firefighter had to perform multiple physical tasks simulating the fireground: hose deployment, forcible entry, throwing a ground ladder, climbing stairs, and maneuvering on foot around a building. In addition they had to draw numbered cards which designated a piece of equipment to retrieve from the fleet in the firehouse. This was done sequentially until low air alarms went off. Time was recorded for firefighters knowledge. The firefighters continued on low air until 500 psi was left in their cylinder and breath control was practiced until the air cylinder was empty. Brookfield Fire recently did this drill and several members of BFD who are also SFD brought it here to benefit us as well.