09/04/2026
Today Deputy Chief Houle and Captain Byam met with Carlisle Fire Chief Sorrows and Lieutenant Gibson, along with Westford Deputy Chief Svatek, on Gage Lane and Northview Ave in South Chelmsford. This stretch of town has no municipal hydrants, so the group came together to discuss alternative water supply options and coordinated response planning.
Carlisle operates without hydrants across the entire town and brings experience in rural water supply, including tanker operations, portable pumps, drafting, and responds with apparatus carrying thousands of feet of large diameter hose. Given that this area sits near the Carlisle town line and shares a section of road with Westford, bringing all three departments to the table made sense. This would be a Chelmsford response, with Westford responding through mutual aid and Carlisle special called for water supply on a working fire.
This discussion builds on outreach to Carlisle Fire that began earlier this year in order to gain a better understanding of their capabilities, and this new partnership will not end today. We are now planning a joint drill so the strategies discussed can be tested for effectiveness and practiced by personnel from all three departments before they are ever needed on an actual incident.
Options for alternative water supply sources cannot simply be dictated by geographical location or the size of area departments. Preparedness comes from planning and training together before an incident, not from assumptions about what a neighboring department can bring. Grateful to Carlisle and Westford for their partnership on this.
