For information on our new fire station, including drawings, please go to the “New Fire Station Progress” page.
Dresden Fire Department is an on-call department which currently has two dozen firefighters on its roster (see Roster page). Firefighters are paid a token amount when they care called out, and the Chief and Assistant Chief are paid a modest annual stipend for their services.
As the following Call Volume report shows, DFD is called out for all motor vehicle accidents within the boundaries of the Town of Dresden, to service calls such as a downed tree blocking a road or a downed power line, in response to fire and CO2 alarms, to hazardous material incidents (e.g. oil spill), and of course in response to brush, wood, motor vehicle and structure fires.
Like all small, rural towns without public water supplies and fire hydrants, Dresden F.D. cannot afford enough equipment, nor does it have the manpower, to respond all on its own to a major structure fire, e.g. house or barn. Therefore, the citizens of Dresden and surrounding towns rely on each other with Mutual Aid agreements. A recent house fire in Pittston is a good example.
A large, colonial house in a Pittston subdivision recently caught fire, following the explosion of a gas barbecue grill located close to the house. The nearest significant source of water was a small pond with a ‘dry hydrant’ more than a mile away. Putting out a major structure fire requires far more water than a single tanker truck can hold, or even several. As soon as the call went out from Pittston F.D., 10 surrounding towns were asked to send tanker trucks and firefighters to Pittston, including Dresden. A pumper truck from Randolph was stationed at the pond and pumped water into the 10 tankers, sometimes two at a time, which in turn shuttled water to other pumper trucks directing water onto the burning house, returning for more water as long as it was needed.
Dresden was in the same position not many weeks earlier, and Mutual Aid was provided by several surrounding towns in response to a structure fire off Cedar Grove Road. Through Mutual Aid, small-town fire departments are able to cope with fires they could not afford to fight on their own.
For more information about the Dresden Fire Department, please take a look at the various pages on this website, accessible by clicking on the ‘buttons’ below the picture at the top of each page.
Dresden Fire Dept. call volume, 1998-2007
(click on image to enlarge)
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History of Dresden Fire Department
A history of the Dresden Fire Department was published in 1991 by the late Leslie Souviney, a founder of the department. It was completed by his widow, Doris Souviney, who resides on Common Road.
We hope to have a link to a copy of this history soon. In the meantime, Bridge Academy Library has a copy on file.
