Town of Charlton
Fire Department
PO Box 114, Charlton City, MA 01508
Phone 508-248-2299 Fax 508-248-6190
Headquarters Located at 10 Power Station Road
Emergency: 9-1-1
Fire Chief Charles E. Cloutier, Jr.
(508) 248-2299 ext. 2276
Email

Terri Gough, Administrative Assistant
(508) 248-2299 ext. 2276

Station Hours: 24 hours a day 7 days a week
Business Hours: 7:00 am - 3:30 pm
Quick Links

About the CFD
Areas of Responsibility
Permits and Inspections
Roster


CFD Apparatus
CFD Dive Team
CFD Technical Rescue Team
CFD Photo Gallery
Links
Members Only Click Here

Mission Statement

To provide the best possible service to our customers, Whether harmed by fire, accident, sickness or natural disaster. We will mitigate the incident with competence, compassion, and care, with the highest level of professionalism regardless of the status of the customer.

Guiding Principles

We will attend to the needs of the customers before anything else is done.
Is the action legal and ethical?
Is the action within my scope of authority?
Are you willing to be held accountable for your decision?
Will the action bring about a satisfactory conclusion to the event?
Is the risk worth the reward?
We will risk our lives a lot, in a highly calculated and controlled manner,
to protect a savable human life. *
We will risk our lives a little, in a highly calculated and controlled manner,
to protect savable property.*
We will not risk our lives at all to protect lives or property that is already lost. *
We will be nice and respect everyone we have contact with. *

*Brunacini, Alan V.; Fire Command; Second Edition; Heritage Publishers, Inc. Phoenix, AZ; 2002 (p 39)


Areas of Responsibility:

1. The Fire Chief is appointed by the Selectmen in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 48: Section 42.

2. The Fire Chief performs all of the duties required of his position by the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and enforce the rules and regulations of the Department of Public Safety pertaining to his position. This includes extinguishing and prevention of fires as well as issuance of various permits. The Chief may designate any member to assist him in his duties as prescribed by law.

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About the Charlton Fire Department:

The Charlton Fire Department was established in 1925. The fire department was an entirely on-call department until April 10, 1989 when they hired the town’s first three full time fire fighter/EMT’s. Today the department employ's 15 full time fire fighter/EMT’s including the Chief, an Administrative Assistant and 28 on call fire fighters and EMT’s.

Fire Headquarters is located at 10 Power Station Road and is staffed 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Full time personnel are organized into four groups of 3 fire fighter/EMT’s each working 24 hour shifts beginning at 8 am. In addition to the four groups one full time member works a set schedule of Monday through Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm. The staffing level during Monday through Friday daytime operations is 4 full-time members. In addition to the in house staffing, call firefighters and EMS personnel are on call every evening from 6 pm to 6 am. At all times additional members of both the on call and full time may be summoned to assist the on duty personnel through a radio dispatch and paging system for any type of incident. Station 2 is located at 54 North Main Street and houses 4 pieces of apparatus. It is an unmanned substation.

The department’s primary response area covers over 44 square miles of land with approximately 300 miles of roadway and protects just over 14,000 residents. The Charlton Fire Department annually responds to over 2200 calls for service with some or all of our apparatus protecting over 1.6 billion dollars worth of property.

The department operates 3 Engines, 2 Tankers, 1 Forestry, 3 Paramedic level ambulances, 1 Heavy Rescue, 2 Marine units and an Aerial Scope. The department also utilizes numerous specialty tools for various incident including 2 ice rescue sleds for water and ice rescues, 2 Emergency Medical Services Bicycles and 3 thermal imaging cameras. The Charlton Fire Department has several specialized units that handle situations, which require advanced or specialized training.

They are:

Training Division: This division is made up of both fire and EMS personnel that ensure all members of the department are trained in all aspects of their job and maintain proficiency in those skills.

Fire Prevention Unit: Fire Prevention is performed on a variety of levels. There 4 career shift supervisors act as fire inspectors that perform regular fire inspections for both residential and commercial occupancies. For the most part, residential inspections are limited to smoke detector / Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector inspections upon sale or transfer of a residence or because you have had a new oil burner or oil tank installed. Other inspections are performed at businesses, health care institutions and schools on an annual basis as required.

The SAFE (Students Awareness of Fire Education) program comprises of 3 instructors who will work with the schools or any group to educate children in regard to fire safety. They also perform fire prevention functions around town including our annual Family Fun Day in October.

Fire Investigation Unit: The Fire prevention Unit comprises of 2 fire investigators that have received extensive training in the area of fire investigation. They are called to fire scenes to assist in determining cause and origin of fires.

Dive Team: The Dive Team is comprised of both firefighters and police officers from the Town of Charlton. They respond to any water incident that has the potential of a victim being under the water. The team is also available to the Police Department to assist in underwater evidence recovery. This team has 20 members between both departments.

Technical Rescue Team: The Technical Rescue Team has received training in both high angle and confined space rescue. They are available to respond to any incident that requires a confined space entry or rope rescue. This team has 9 members assigned.

Chaplain’s Unit: The Chaplain’s Unit is currently run by our Chaplain, Reverend James Chase. Reverend Chase has received numerous certifications in Critical Incident Stress Management and is involved with the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains. Reverend Chase assists the members of the fire department on a daily basis to deal with the accumulated affects of stress.

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Permits and Inspections
Important Information Regarding Fire Department Inspections

Articles
Keep Warm Keep Safe - Winter Safety Tip from the Charlton Fire Dept.

Nicole's Law Information (requiring Carbon Monoxide Detectors)
Consumer's Guide to Massachusetts Requirements for Carbon Monoxide Alarms
About Carbon Monoxide

Permitting Guidebook

We provide emergency services first: for any permit or scheduled inspection you need or have may be postponed with out notification until you reschedule or return when personnel are available to issue the permit or permission.

The Chief and his designees are responsible for issuing a variety of permits, for blasting to oil burner insulation, annual a fire work permit is issued for the Old Home Day celebration.

The most popular permit is Open Air Burning.

This permit can be obtained by coming to the Main Station at 10 Power Station Road between 9 am and Noon seven days a week. The fee is $ 20.00 (cash or check) and is good for the season, which is January 15th to April 30th each year. You will be issued a printed permit along with the rules. You must call daily for permission to burn between 9 am and Noon each time you wish to burn.

Additional information can be found at:
www.mass.gov/dep/air/compliance/burning.htm

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Fire Department Personnel
Call (508) 248-2299 then dial extension. Click name to email.
Charles E. Cloutier, Jr.*
Michael Mahan*
Curtis Meskus
Kerry J. Mason*
Ralph Harris, Jr.*
Edward Knopf*
Peter Maldonado
Terri Gough*
James Chase
Douglas Adler
Dennis Arruda
Dean Babineau*
Kelly Babineau
Robbie Barton
Todd Betts
Michael Bjorn
James Callahan*
Steve Coleman
Lynn Coleman
Brian Curtis
Paul Dubenetsky
Doug Hanks
Mark Kimball*
Mark Krukowski
Craig Langevin
Jason Longtin
Roger Meskus*
Gerald Mortenson
Brian Ouellette*
Joseph Overly*
Lee Parent*
Ronald Rivett
Danielle Robertson*
Ovidiu Ticlea*
Donnie Zamis
Robert Brogan
Charles Cloutier III
Michael Fournier
Daniel Hanks
Christopher Henry
Doug Robertson
Nicholas Stevens
Stacy Booker
Shawn Boulette
Steve Faubert
Matthew Kolesnik
Forest Rothchild
Chief
Asst. Chief
Asst. Chief
Captain
Captain
Captain
Lieutenant
EMS Coordinator
Chaplain
EMT-I
Firefighter/EMT
Firefighter/EMT
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/EMT-I
Firefighter/EMT
Firefighter/EMT-I
Firefighter/EMT-I
Paramedic
Firefighter
Paramedic
Firefighter/EMT
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighter/EMT-I
EMT
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/Medic
Firefighter/EMT
Recruit/EMT
Recruit
Recruit
Recruit
Recruit
Recruit
Recruit
Auxiliary/EMT
Auxiliary/EMT
Auxiliary
Auxiliary
Auxiliary/EMT
ext. 2276
ext. 2281
ext. 2282
ext. 2279
ext. 2277
ext. 2280
ext. 2151
ext. 2276
ext. 2101
ext. 2285
ext. 2196
ext. 2197
ext. 2158
ext. 2195
ext. 2179
ext. 2166
ext. 2199
ext.
ext.
ext. 2167
ext.
ext. 2159
ext. 2157
ext. 2192
ext. 2193
ext. 2165
ext. 2153
ext. 2154
ext. 2156
ext. 2182
ext. 2195
ext. 2161
ext. 2155
ext. 2164
ext. 2180







ext. 2158
*Full Time Members

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Related Links:
527 CMR Board of Fire Prevention Regulations
Charlton Permanent Firefighters Association Local 4023
Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition
Firehouse.com
Firewise
Fire Chiefs' Association of Massachusetts Inc.
Fire Engineering
General Laws of Massachusetts - M.G.L. Home Page
General Laws of Massachusetts - M.G.L. Ch 48. Fires, Fire Depts. and Fire District, Firewards
General Laws of Massachusetts - M.G.L. Chapter 148. Fire Prevention.
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
Malignant Mesothelioma
Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control Burning Guidelines
Massachusetts Call and Volunteer Firefighters Association
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management
Mass Department of Fire Services
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
National Fire Academy
Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts (PFFM)
United States Fire Administration - Kids page
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - Safety for Older Consumers Home Safety Checklist


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