Charlestown limits fire department medical calls, shifts emergency response

Charlestown’s Selectboard has limited how often the fire department will be sent to emergency medical calls, a shift that could leave some patients waiting longer for Golden Cross Ambulance when every minute counts.

The change puts a sharper line between fire suppression and medical response in a town where the fire department has long done both. At the station on April 10, firefighters Scott Burns and Floyd Harvey discussed the department’s role and the practical limits of expecting a small crew to cover fires, rescues and patient care at the same time.

For residents, the immediate effect is straightforward: calls that once might have brought the fire department first will now depend more heavily on Golden Cross Ambulance, the regional EMS provider serving Charlestown. Golden Cross recently renewed its contract to provide emergency medical services for five more years, after a prior agreement was set to expire March 31.

The decision comes after years of pressure on the department’s staffing and equipment. A 2024 town report said the Charlestown Fire Department answered 410 fire calls and 601 medical calls, a workload that had grown after the Selectboard created a rescue squad and added trained medical personnel to the town’s response system. That rescue capability was meant to help stabilize patients before an ambulance arrived from Claremont to transport them.

The debate over medical response has also unfolded alongside other public safety decisions. In March, voters rejected a proposal to buy land for a new fire station. The land purchase had been priced at $269,000, and town officials had previously discussed a $3.5 million bond for a new station as they wrestled with health and safety concerns in the current space.

Burns’ family history underscored how deeply the department is tied to Charlestown’s identity. He noted that his grandfather served on the Charlestown Fire Department beginning in 1919, a reminder that the current change is not just a staffing adjustment but part of a longer struggle over what a small town can realistically provide on its own.

The town’s 2024 annual report also memorialized Dick Westney, who served as a firefighter, ambulance worker and member of the police department. That history gives the Selectboard’s decision added weight: Charlestown is now trying to balance tradition, limited manpower and the reality that emergency medical care is increasingly being pushed onto regional providers.