History of WBFD

In 1891, the Town of West Boylston formed The Board of Fire Engineers to be in charge of the fire trucks and equipment owned by the town for the purpose of fighting fire. However, it was not until 1894 that enough personnel were recruited to form organized fire companies. The Town's four fire trucks were split between the villages of Oakdale and West Boylston. The Oakdale Engine Company operated a No. 4 combination engine and the Diamond Hook & Ladder Company operated a No. 2 H. and L. truck. The West Boylston Engine Company and Hook & Ladder Company had same. In 1923, The West Boylston Volunteer Firemens Association was formed to supplement the Board of Fire Engineers. In 1941, the town installed the first piped water system which greatly increased the departments ability to fight fire. Prior to this implementation, water was drafted from ponds, streams, and basins dug specifically to hold water in the event of a fire. An auxiliary department formed in 1941. Called The Fire Department Auxiliary, it provided much needed man-power to the regular department.

The early 1950's saw a technological jump for the fire department. In 1951, the first radios were acquired and in 1952, the first emergency telephone system was put in place. Telephone systems were installed in the homes of Mrs. Holt and Mrs. Warren who rotated shifts to answer the phones 24/7. When a fire was reported via the telephone, one of these two women would answer the call and then a fire siren would sound to alert the local firemen that they needed to respond to the station. In 1962, the fire siren was replaced with a coded air horn to allow for more detailed messages. Also, in 1962 the Town's first ambulance was put into service and The Women's Auxiliary Fire Department was formed. Four years later, in 1966, the town began installing pull stations at public gathering points and buildings of high occupancy. The pull stations would be in use until 2016 when the last one was deactivated with businesses now relying on private companies to monitor their fire alarm systems.

In 1970 the current fire department station was built at 39 Worcester Street. It originally housed the fire and police departments until 1978 when emergency dispatch was moved from dispatcher's homes to a public safety communications center located on the second floor. The dispatch center would operate for 39 years until 2017 when West Boylston regionalized with the Wachusett Regional Dispatch Center. The police department would also leave the building in 2017 to a newly constructed police station. A training yard was built in the old Oakdale tree dump (now part of the rail trail) with two donated box cars in 1984. This would serve as the primary training ground for the fully volunteer department.

The fire department's first regularly scheduled employee was created in 1994 when the town appointed the Fire Chief to a 20 hour per week position. Prior to this, the fire chief was solely on call. Requests for emergency fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responses nearly doubled from 275 to 576 between 1978 and 1994. In 1996, the fire department ambulance began operating at the Advanced Life Support (ALS) level. The ambulance would now respond with one Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and one paramedic to all emergencies. By operating at an ALS level, the fire department is able to provide a higher level of care to patients. Until 1998, all fire department members would respond from home to the fire station when an emergency was called in. That year, the first full time fire fighter/EMT was hired. Two years later, the first fire fighter/paramedic joined the full time staff. In 2003, the Board of Fire Engineers was dissolved and replaced with a strong chief management structure. This brought the fire department to a more typical organization of similar departments.

In 2016, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 5054 was formed as a union of The West Boylston Professional Fire Fighters. Before 2016, the fire station was staffed from 6am to 6pm every day with on-call members responding from home during the night. Due to a steady increase in emergency calls and a shrinking volunteer force, the department began 24 hour rotating shifts so that no emergency calls would go unanswered regardless of the time of day. The current department consists of six full-time fire fighters, the fire chief, and a call force of fire fighters and EMTs.