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The Muddy Brook Fire Department
The Muddy Brook Fire Department was founded in 1934. The department’s charter members wanted fire protection more available in their area of Woodstock. Today the department protects approx. 2000 residents in North & East Woodstock. The North side of the department's response district borders Southbridge, MA and its East side borders Thompson, CT. The department annually responds to more than 100 calls of service in its district and through mutual aid to surrounding departments
Woodstock, CT
The Town of Woodstock has a population of 7,200 spread across 61.8 square miles. It is protected by three fire departments, the Woodstock Volunteers FD in South Woodstock, the Bungay Fire Brigade in West Woodstock, and the Muddy Brook FD in North & East Woodstock. The town is mostly rural with a large agricultural base. The town is also the site of the Woodstock Fair that takes place every Labor Day weekend. This event brings almost 250,000 people into town from the Tri-State Area (CT, MA, RI)
Emergency Response
When someone calls 911 in the town of Woodstock the following happens… The phone call goes to the Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communications dispatch center that answers 911 calls and dispatches numerous fire departments in Northeast Connecticut. The dispatcher determines what type of emergency is present and dispatches it according to three types of calls, Fire, Medical and Service.
A service call is considered a non-emergency that the fire department is best equipped to handle. This can include animal rescue, wires down, traffic control, and lift assists. On a service call the apparatus response will differ based on what is required. Most often Rescue 175 & Service 175 will respond.
A medical call is an emergency response that includes everything from car accidents to heart attacks to broken bones. Typically Rescue 175 will respond and care for the patient(s) until the Woodstock Ambulance can arrive to transport the patient(s) to the appropriate hospital. Rescue 475 will also respond for all car accidents or any rescue situation. Woodstock EMS has two ambulances that are housed in South Woodstock at the Woodstock Volunteer FD. Woodstock EMS is made up of medical personnel from all three Woodstock FD's.
A fire call is a fire in any type of structure, vehicle or grass/brush. Response to fire calls varies depending on what the fire is in. Muddy Brook alone, in most cases, handles vehicle and outside fires. Fires in a structure (house, barn, etc.) in the town of Woodstock have all three fire departments, Muddy Brook, Bungay, and Woodstock Volunteers respond. This occurs because of the lack of hydrants in town. Without hydrants there is a need to have many trucks responding that carry lots of water. Every time all three departments are dispatched over 14,000 gallons of water is responding. This may seem like a lot, but some of our equipment can shoot water at over 1,000 gallons a minute.
All three types of calls are sent via radio waves to alpha pagers or radio receiving pagers that department members carry. Fire calls and car accidents also activate sirens atop the fire station, the North Woodstock Church and the East Woodstock Church. The siren was the first way department members were notified of calls and is still in use today. After department members receive the call they either respond to the station or directly to the scene. This is typically when most people realize there is an emergency by the blue lights flashing in member’s vehicles on the roadways. The department members respond to emergencies 24/7/365. Holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions are all missed for calls that can range from minutes, to hours, to days.