Department Overview

 Groton Fire Department

The Groton Fire Department is a 24 hour per day operation providing emergency services to the residents of Groton. Over the years the term Fire Service has come to mean much more than the name implies. The fire service across America has transformed from a primarily fire suppression organization to a multi-disciplinary rescue organization. Each year the members of the department respond to a wide variety of calls providing life saving services to the residents.

It is the vision of the fire department to continue providing excellent services through a combination of career and on-call staffing. In 2018 the Groton Fire Department responded to 1302 calls or an approximate 10% increase in emergency calls. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in medical emergencies, natural gas leaks and carbon monoxide emergencies.  The 10-year average still sees an approximate 2% increase in call volume from year to year. As the community continues to grow, calls for service will continue to increase taxing our resources.

Training in the Groton Fire Department is the cornerstone to providing excellent services from our members to community. The Groton Fire Department trains an average of 90 hours per year. With the adoption of OSHA regulations in early 2019, training will become even more demanding on the time of the members. This time demand has to be carefully balanced for on-call firefighters and EMT’s in order to ensure their availability for emergency responses. The members of the Groton Fire Department pride themselves in the quality of services delivered to the community.

Almost 500 outdoor burning permits were issued for the disposal of fallen branches and trees. The outdoor burning season is from January 15 through May 1 each year as established by the Department of Environmental Protection. While Groton does allow burning of brush, we cannot overstate the importance of being cautious while doing so.

The Groton Fire Department has and will remain a predominately on-call department. That said our dedicated members need to make hard choices in order balance work, family and their commitment to the department. This struggle at times leaves the department with very few available call firefighters and EMT’s. The department is committed to continuing to recruit and train on-call personnel while looking for alternative methods for ensuring adequate coverage.

I would like to thank the women and men of the Groton Fire Department for their dedication and hard work. The Town of Groton is very lucky to have such a great group of people watching over them day and night.

Respectfully submitted,

Steele McCurdy

Fire Chief