Groton Fire Department

The Groton Fire Department is responsible for providing the town residents with 24 hour per day emergency services. The department holds at its roots a strong sense of pride and dedication to service to the community. Our members are made up of both full-time career firefighter/EMTs as well as a robust group of call/volunteer firefighters and EMTs that are training to respond not only for fire suppression, but hazardous materials incidents, water rescue, and life-saving services which gives us an all-hazards approach to the fire and EMS services that we provide.  

The vision of the fire department to continue providing excellent services through a combination of career and on-call staffing. The Groton Fire Department has experienced an approximate 12% increase in requests to respond between 2018 and 2023 going from 1,302 emergency responses to 1,460. This is just over the 2% per year average increase that we have experienced in the past, and as we enter the final months of 2024, we are on track to increase the percentage of calls from 2023 a staggering 9.5%. The calls for service are evidence to the growth of our community and we need to meet that need with staffing to support our vision.

The cornerstone of any fire department should be on providing excellent services to its community. The Groton Fire Department gains its strength from the numerous amounts of hours spent on the training grounds and in the classroom obtaining continuing education from subject matter experts in the fields of fire and EMS services. We also have a focus on creating innovative training competencies that meet NFPA, OSHA, and OEMS standards in effort to recognize and mitigate the challenges both current and future. As technology grows & improves, and recognizing the environmental changes, our ability to not only respond to the emergency but also to effectively and efficiently mitigate the incident needs to be at the forefront. 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.

The Groton Fire Department was formed as an on-call department. Since making the transition to a full time 24 hour per day emergency services provider we have added 8 full-time career firefighter/EMTs all of which began as call/volunteer members in the fire service. That said we are dedicated to maintain a strong call/volunteer membership. These unique individuals have to balance their work, families and their commitment to the department which can create times where we have very few on-call firefighter’s and EMTs to respond to emergencies. Given the increased transport times due to the closure of Nashoba Hospital, those times of inadequate staffing have increased substantially. The department is committed to continuing to recruit and train on-call personnel while researching other avenues for ensuring adequate coverage for the community.

I want to thank the members of the Groton Fire Department for all that they do and for the care and service that they provide to our community. “There is no greater joy in life and helping others.” (-John Wooden; Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach)

Art Cheeks

Fire Chief