More Than Just Putting Out Fires
Burlington’s new fire chief shares about the unseen work behind the department and the efforts to recruit the next generation of first responders.
Burlington welcomed a new fire chief this January, but the man at the helm of the 75-year-old fire department is a familiar face to many, and his story might be the most Burlington story you’ll hear today.
“I grew up in Burlington,” Browne said simply, when asked what brought him to the department. “I’m the fifth of seven kids.” His wife is a Burlington teacher. His brothers Kevin and Tim are retired Burlington fire captains, and his brother Tom is the Chief of Police.
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Browne joined the department in 1997 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2003, captain in 2020, and chief this January — 29 years of working his way through every rank in an organization that forms part of the essential public safety backbone of the town.
More Than Fires
Ask Chief Browne what the Burlington Fire Department does and the answer might surprise you. “The majority of our calls are medical,” he said.
It’s true: In 2025, the department responded to 5,386 total incidents, and just nine of them were building fires. The work of keeping Burlington safe looks less like the dramatic rescues of television drama and more like showing up at 2 AM when someone can’t breathe, or when a carbon monoxide detector goes off, or when a forklift operator at the Burlington Mall clips a gas line.
The range of calls is wide — automatic alarms, gas leaks, carbon monoxide calls, water emergencies, car accidents, and the occasional major electrical incident, like the time a contractor hit a utility feed in the mall parking lot and knocked out power across the whole complex. “That was a huge response,” Browne recalled. “Luckily nobody got hurt.”
There have also been highly unorthodox calls, like the time firefighters saved baby ducks from a storm drain or when the department was enlisted to save a man who had become stuck in a garbage compactor truck.
Two Stations, One Team
Burlington operates two fire stations. Station 1 on Cambridge Street houses the department’s command operations. Station 2 at 114 Terrace Hall Ave — built in the 1960s when Burlington’s population was exploding on that side of town, and rebuilt in 2020 — now runs an engine, a tower ladder, and an ambulance. The rebuilt Station 2 added a modern training room, a training captain’s dedicated office, and a practice tower that simulates high-rise firefighting.
“That’s been a real bonus,” Browne said. “It’s a lot more space, and we now have equipment there we didn’t have before.”
The two-station model means faster response times on both sides of town and, increasingly, a near-equal split of call volume: Engine 1 ran 2,614 calls in 2025. Engine 2 ran 2,125. This, said Browne, is owing to the town’s expanded commercial districts.
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Advanced Life Support
One of the most significant changes in recent years has been the department’s transition to Advanced Life Support (ALS). Where Burlington once relied on intercept agreements with outside ALS providers, the department is now ALS-capable at almost all times. Burlington Fire has been building its paramedic roster steadily for a decade now, with all new hires since 2015 coming on as paramedics.
“For the town and for the department, it’s been a great thing,” Browne said.
Getting the Word Out
While Burlington Fire is hard at work each day, Browne said it’s hard to publicize what they do because it often involves personal medical information. But, he said, he’s collaborating with town Communications Officer Laura Zakrewski to help raise awareness about the department’s work.
Individual members of the department are also doing their part, submitting applications for grants to support the department and inform the community. The department recently received two grants that Chief Browne is particularly proud of.
The first, a $19,000 award from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services secured by recently retired Assistant Chief Steve McLean, funded new battery-powered hydraulic rescue tools — a cutter and a spreader — standardized across every emergency response vehicle. “Now no matter what front-line piece anyone grabs, they all have the same equipment,” Browne said, adding that the tools are more versatile because they can be taken into hard-to-reach places where hydraulic cords previously made access difficult.
The second, a SAFE grant — Student Awareness of Fire Education — provides approximately $7,000 for community education, with $5,000 targeting Burlington schools and the remainder focused on elderly residents. Lieutenant Todd Ficociello is leading the program, working with the Burlington Public Schools and the Council on Aging to bring fire safety education back into classrooms and community spaces. “The kids like it,” Browne said. “It’s good for us to get out there and show what we do.”
Building the Next Generation
Staffing is among the department’s most pressing challenges. When fully hired, 66 personnel would be employed across four shifts; the department has been running below that, partly due to retirements and partly due to the competitive regional market for paramedics.
“The word’s getting out that Burlington is a good place to work,” said Browne, “but it’s who can get them first.”
The department orients new hires for a month or so prior to the state’s 10-week state Fire Academy and provides a three-week orientation afterward. But, said Browne, department members continue learning from their colleagues long after they graduate from the Academy.
“The education our guys are getting is excellent,” Browne said, and the department has members with many complementary specialties.
Chief Browne is working with Burlington’s town administration to expand the recruitment pipeline. “If we can get the message out to high school kids,” he said, “even if it doesn’t help us now, it puts the bug in their ear.”
With 890 combined years of experience on the roster — including six members with 30 or more years of service — Burlington’s department carries deep institutional knowledge even as it brings in new faces. Browne is clear-eyed about the transition. “Once we get up to full manning, I think we’re going in a very good direction.”
