EASTHAMPTON — It’s 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday. Eight Easthampton firefighters just arrived at the fire house in the Public Safety Complex. They are starting their day-long shift and will have to be ready for anything in the next 24 hours.
Each morning starts with mandatory checks of all vehicles, making sure that each engine is running and supplies are stocked, ready to roll for the day. Then, they may meet in the department’s kitchen, whipping up some breakfast and coffee.
However, it’s not too long before duty calls. At around 8:30 a.m. an alarm sounds through the intercom system, and dispatch alerts of a resident with difficulty breathing.
Quickly, three firefighters jump to action, getting into an ambulance and flicking the lights on before making their way to the New City area to respond. Most Easthampton firefighters are also trained paramedics, and those who are not are trained EMTs.
Two of the firefighters quickly enter the house and one other trails behind, preparing the ambulance while being ready to provide additional support. Typically, at least two firefighters respond to every call. Depending on the severity of a call, which dispatch is constantly updating, one to several others may join.
They bring the resident out of the home safely and into the ambulance, providing care before, during and after the ambulance starts rolling again. The lights turn back on, and the patient is brought to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
“As hazards have changed over the years, we’ve evolved to an all-hazard response agency,” Fire Chief Christopher Norris said. “I want people to have confidence in us, whether it’s a fire, a medical call, a car accident, a water rescue, that we have the competencies and capabilities to respond to any emergency.”
The Gazette spent last Tuesday morning with the Easthampton Fire Department, observing what happens on a given day in the department. When not on call, downtime looks like spending time with each other, partaking in various trainings, cleaning, restocking supplies, making sure equipment is working, among various other tasks.
The department was just awarded a $200,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to replace four cardiac monitors that were each more than 10 years old.
Last year, the department as a whole spent 6,239 hours on training sessions, a number that has grown from 2,340 hours in 2017, according to Easthampton Fire’s 2025 annual report.
More medical calls
These days, medical calls take up 80% of Easthampton’s emergency service responses, which is why it is crucial for firefighters to have emergency medical credentials, Norris said. Norris said it is important to have enough staffing prepared for each call. From emergency medical calls in fiscal year 2025, Easthampton drew a little more than $1.4 million from transport services, which goes to the city’s general fund.
Each shift typically has at least one captain, one lieutenant and six firefighters on duty. On Tuesday afternoon, the department held a ceremony to introduce the rank of lieutenant, promoting five new employees to the title.
Two firefighters are enough for medical calls like the one Tuesday morning, but Norris said three make the process much quicker and put the firefighters at less risk, depending on the call.
Getting to the scene, extricating the patient, then taking off took about 15 minutes to accomplish.
“If there were just two people, they can do it by themselves, and sometimes they have to because everyone else is busy, but it takes that much longer,” Norris said.
Back at the firehouse, when three firefighters go out, that leaves five employees remaining, and Easthampton often provides mutual aid to smaller neighbors, Norris said. Fire Captain Sean O’Leary said days vary — some days are busy and others are slower — but Easthampton Fire typically gets about 14 calls a shift.
Of course, fires still happen and depending on the severity, it could be several firefighters responding or all hands on deck.
Easthampton Fire responded to 4,122 calls for emergency service last year, a number that has jumped from 2,856 calls just eight years ago, according to the department’s 2025 report.
Easthampton contracts with Westhampton, an all-volunteer department, and frequently responds to Southampton calls since its department only has one full-time employee, the fire chief. Besides those two, Easthampton then provides aid mostly to Northampton.
Multiple calls can come in quickly, leaving staff thin back at the firehouse, then requiring mutual aid from other communities if another call comes in, Norris said. People often talk about regionalizing departments, Norris said, but he feels many departments have done so in a way through mutual aid.
“I would argue we already have. It’s just semantics,” Norris said. “We regionalize through the use of mutual aid.”
Fire prevention
Structure fires do not break out as much as they used to, but when they do, they are much more intense and spread quicker, Norris said.
This is a trend that Norris credits to two main reasons: fire prevention safety and codes have become much more elaborate, while manufacturers have moved to use more combustible materials like polyester plastics for construction and items inside buildings, such as furniture, mattresses and blankets.
“If you look back 23 years ago, all of the fuel loads are basically natural fibers, woods, cotton, things like that. But now you fast-forward to today’s fuel loads in homes and businesses, it’s all plastics,” Norris said, using the term “fuel load” to describe anything that catches fire.
As for prevention, fire reduction measures have grown astronomically, Norris said, and the measures have been working. “An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure,” he said.
Fire Prevention Lt. Kyle Gagnon said that as more developments have come to Easthampton such as the Tasty Top development, redevelopment of the mill buildings, new school projects, it has added more permitting and licensing work for the department to handle.
“All the building has been, obviously, a big increase for fire prevention,” Gagnon said.
In 2025, the department fulfilled 1,088 inspections of various buildings — residential, commercial and industrial — a number that has nearly tripled since 2019 with 392 inspections. Education facilities take up the most inspections, followed by general fire inspections.
Gagnon said that liquor licensing and permitting take a lot of time for the fire prevention team.
Norris said Easthampton Fire, along with other departments in Massachusetts and across the country, are adapting to changes. Whether it is new fire codes, increases in ion batteries, or an increase in medical services, he said Easthampton Fire is up for the task.
“When people in Easthampton call 911, they don’t have a choice; you only get one option — these guys right here,” Norris said. “It’s my responsibility to make sure they have all the resources needed to do the job because you can’t dial another number.”
