Ipswich Fire

Ipswich Fire

Mission Statement
Our Mission is to protect lives and property as well as improve the quality of life in the town of Ipswich through aggressive fire prevention and education, fire suppression, rescue, medical assistance and hazardous materials control.

Helpful Links

Open Burning Permit – Purchase

Open Burning Permit – Activation
(You must do this EVERY time you burn)

Smoke & CO Inspection – Purchase

Chief’s Message

Jeremy Dalton | jeremyd@ipswichfire.org
Michael Bonaiuto | michaelb@ipswichfire.org

Massachusetts Laws Now Requires

  • Infants and children must ride in a federally approved child passenger restraint until they are at least 5 years old and weigh more than 40 pounds.
  • Children older than 5 and more than 40 pounds must ride in a booster seat until the child is 8 years old or is taller than 4 feet 9 inches.
  • Anyone over the age of 8 must be protected by a safety belt.

Reminders

  • The safest place for any child, in any restraint system, is in the back seat.
  • You are your child’s most powerful role model so always wear your safety belt---and make sure everyone else in the car is buckled up---front seat and back!

Developed by the Injury Prevention and Control Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, April 2008

Kendall Buhl | Fire Prevention Lieutenant
fireprev@ipswichfire.org
(978) 356-6631

Fire prevention is dedicated in helping the public by identifying and eliminating hazards that may cause fire or injury accomplished through fire safety inspections, code enforcement, plan review, and public fire safety education.

For information regarding Building & Occupancy Permits, Fee Schedules, Forms/Permits, Open Burning and more, please visit Fire Prevention on our town website.

Kendall Buhl | kendallb@ipswichfire.org

The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services established the Student Awareness and Fire Education (SAFE) program in 1995 to reduce the number of child fire-related fatalities.  Within 20 years, those casualties had been reduced 70 percent statewide.  In 2019 and 2020, there were no fire-related deaths among children.

Ipswich’s SAFE Program takes specially-trained firefighters into Ipswich schools to talk with students about fire safety.  We do this not only to make our children more safety-conscious, but also in the hopes that our young people take these lessons home a change in the behavior and safety of each household.

The curriculum for the Ipswich SAFE Program:

Pre-K                             Friendly Firefighters
Kindergarten               Stop, Drop, Cover and Roll
1st Grade                      Match and Lighter Danger
2nd Grade                     Reporting Emergencies
3rd Grade                     Burn Prevention and Cooking Safety
4th Grade                     Smoke Detectors and Escape Plans
5th Grade                     Smoking and Vaping
6th Grade                     Home Hazard Inspections

Through a partnership with the Ipswich Council on Aging, Senior SAFE aims to improve the safety of older adult homes.

Free services include: 

Smoke and CO Detectors:  The Fire Department’s Senior SAFE agent visits the homes of our seniors to inspect and test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  We also change batteries and in some cases change or install the detectors themselves.

Residential Lock Boxes: These small steel boxes are installed at the homes of seniors with mobility issues.  The boxes contain a copy of the resident's house key and can only be opened by a key carried on our fire trucks.  These allow firefighters and paramedics to gain access to a home in an emergency, without having to force entry and possibly cause damage to a home.

File of Life: In a medical emergency, firefighters and medics will look at a resident’s refrigerator for this very important document.  The File of Lie provides crucial information about a patient’s medical history, medications, allergies and emergency contacts.  Quick and ready access to this information helps our first responders provide the quickest and best medical care possible.

To make an appointment for any of these free services, please call Beth Wright at the Ipswich Council on Aging: 978-356-6650.