* Fire
Department Organization
* Fire Chiefs
* Fire Station History
* Fire Apparatus History
* Major Fires & Incidents
History
* Run Stats History
FIRE DEPARTMENT
ORGANIZATION
The Barnstable Municipal airport began as a turf airstrip
as early as 1932. It was one of the first airstrips in southeastern
Massachusetts. In 1941 the US Government paved the runways to make it a
"Defense Landing Area" for military aircraft. The field was
operated by the navy during WWII and returned to the Town of Barnstable in 1946.
In 1956 the control tower was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in its current
form. The crash firefighter (ARFF) equipment was in place in the 1950's
operating out of the Operations building with a small crash truck. In 1964
the crash truck was re-chassied on an International chassis. It had a 500
water gallon tank, a 500 gpm pump, foam tank, and dry chemical extinguishing
agents. Staffing was by maintenance personnel as needed. In the 1980's and
1990's a number of apparatus served at the airport including a former Nantucket
airport crash truck and a former Hyannis pumper (E6) refurbished to serve as a
crash truck. In 1992 a new Emergency One Titan Crash Truck was purchased and
presently serves as the primary ARFF unit. A new operations building
on the east ramp was constructed and opened around 1996. A second
truck was added in 1999 Ford Rapid Intervention Vehicle enabling the airport to
operate at all times.
FIRE CHIEFS
FIRE STATIONS
HISTORY
New Crash Station: East Ramp - Built c.1998
Old Crash Station: West Ramp near Tower - 1960s to 1998
FIRE APPARATUS HISTORY
1995 Apparatus
816 Truck 816
- BMA - 1995 Ford F150 Pickup Truck
817 Truck 817
- BMA - 1964 International L1700/Ansul 250/500/50 Crash Truck
820 Truck 820
- BMA - 1992 E-One Titan III 750/1500/200 Crash Truck
1992 Apparatus
816 Truck 816
- BMA - GMC Pickup Truck
(yellow)
817 Airport 2
- BMA - 1964 International L1700/Ansul 250/500/50 Crash Truck
818 Airport 3
- BMA - 1969 FWD/Farrar fm 1000/1000/40 Pumper (was 826)
820 Airport 1
- BMA - 1992 E-One Titan III 750/1500/200 Crash Truck
1975 Apparatus
Truck 228........1964 International 4x4 / Ansul 250 gpm / 500 gallon / 50 AFFF
Crash Truck
MAJOR FIRES &
INCIDENTS HISTORY
Major Incidents
1983 - July 14 - A DC 3 skids off runway with 21 SOB... no injuries.
1986 - June 5 - A DC 3 lands safely with flat tire....21 SOB
1987 - April 12 - A Cessna 402 with 9 SOB crashed in woods off Willow Street,
Yarmouth on takeoff. 9 injured.
1988 - Feb 3 - A twin engine Cessna skids through snow fence into Rte.28 at the
end of RW24 with 4 SOB at 2214 hours. No injuries.
1989 - Feb 11 - A pipe cub makes an emergency landing on Route 6 striking a
car. The occupant of the car was killed.
1989 - June 17 - A military UH-1 Helo on a training mission crashed in heavy fog
in the woods in Yarmouthport while trying to find BMA. Six killed.
1990 - June 12 - A twin engine Cessna 310 landed safely with collapsed landing
gear. 3 SOB. No injuries.
1991 - July 12 - A Piper PA32 crashed in the woods 3/4 mile short of RW24 in
Yarmouth. Two died as the plane burned at 2320 hours.
1994 - July 8 - A Piper Navajo landed safely with 7 SOB at 1630 hours with
complete landing gear failure. No injuries.
1995 - June 7 - A Citation 500 jet with 4 SOB skidded 100 yards off the the end
of RW33 narrowly missing a light stanchion. No one was injured.
1998 - Sept 23 - A Cessna 402 landed with 10 SOB at 1230 hours landed with a
failed landing gear. The Nantucket Airlines plane slid off the runway onto
the grass.
2000 - Mar 17 - In what could have been the worst crash in modern times, four
people on a large 12 passenger Falcon 900 Jet were uninjured as the plane
attempted a downwind landing during a blinding snowstorm. The plane landed
long and skidded through the fence at the end of RW24, across Rte.28 narrowly
missing traffic during the early evening hours of St.Patricks Day. It came
to rest in a crowded parking lot, essentially missing everything. While
loosing hundreds of gallons of fuel, there was no fire and the plane remained in
tact.
2000 - April 19 - A Learjet 35 with 6 SOB skidded off the end of RW15 at
1545 hours stopping in mud at the end of the runway. The jet carried a
patient, nurse, and crew members making a return home from St.Thomas. No
injuries.
2006 Stats show 17 in flight/runway type emergencies including 7 Phase 1
light, 5 Phase 1 heavy, and 2 Phase 2 light. Additionally, there
were 16 ground emergencies, 16 haz mat incidents, 3 structural
responses, and 10 other incidents.
INCIDENT HISTORY -
RUN STATS
Incident History
Year
Fire
EMS Total
1960
1970
1975
1980
1990
1992
6
1993
20
1994
6
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
24
2001
22
2002
2003
2004
2005
10
2006
61
2007
47
2008
31
2009
8
2010
18
2011
2012
2013
16
2014
2015
9
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
01/04/22
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