Sunapee Fire Department seeks volunteers for nearly 700 yearly calls

Sunapee Fire Department is looking for residents willing to answer the pager as the town handled 694 emergencies in 2025, a workload that included fire scenes, medical calls, crashes and Lake Sunapee rescues. The department’s quarterly report put the average time from alarm to first unit responding at 4.8 minutes and the average time to first unit on scene at 9.9 minutes, numbers that show how much the town depends on people who can move quickly when a call comes in.

The call mix shows why the job is broader than a single specialty. Sunapee Fire logged 296 fire calls, 305 EMS calls, 68 motor vehicle accidents and 25 service calls last year. Those responses can mean structure fires, wildland and brush fires, water and marine emergencies, hazardous conditions and public service calls, often in a community where road crashes, lake activity and seasonal tourism can all put pressure on the same local crew.

The department says no prior fire or EMS certification is required. New members receive in-house training and mentorship, while those who already hold fire or EMS credentials can qualify for pay increases based on certification level and experience. Applicants who want to serve only on the medical side must already be licensed in New Hampshire or nationally as an Emergency Medical Responder, EMT, AEMT or paramedic, though someone nearing completion of an EMT course may apply. Training is built around regular Tuesday night meetings, with occasional weekend sessions covering firefighting operations, EMS skills, vehicle extrication, water rescue, wildland firefighting, incident command, apparatus operations and multi-agency response.

Sunapee’s staffing model remains largely on call, with one per-diem fire and EMS provider alongside volunteer members who respond from home or wherever they are. The department’s current roster lists 19 on-call members, including Assistant Chief Matt Pollari, Captain Steve Marshall, Lieutenants Keith Ricci, Joe Hampson and Timothy White. That structure comes amid a larger debate over leadership capacity: the fire chief post is part time, residents rejected warrant articles in 2023 and 2024 that would have made it full time, and voters later supported $65,000 to hire a full-time chief for nine months, with a projected annual cost of $166,000.

The department’s equipment list underscores the stakes. Sunapee Fire operates one engine, two rescue engines, one ladder truck, one tanker, two boats, one off-road rescue vehicle, one forestry truck, two EMS first-response vehicles and one haz-mat trailer. Its new Rescue 1, a 2025 Spartan/Alexis rescue engine, is intended as the primary response vehicle for motor vehicle accidents, ice rescues, technical rescues and fire scenes.

Lieutenant Timothy White is handling recruitment and public information for the department. Interested residents can call the fire station at 603-763-5770.