The Essex County Fire Chief's Association has relied for more than 20 years on a series of 10 alarm cards that indicate which communities should be called for backup at each point of severity of a fire. The mutual aid system is composed of 38 fire departments and 17 fire trucks. There are approximately 300 to 400 mutual aid calls a year in the county; Haverhill has an average of 10 per year. When mutual aid is called by the thirty-four communities in Essex County, firefighters from other towns replace those working at a fire. If the situation worsens, those out-of-town firefighters respond to the fire, and personnel from other communities are called to replace them.

Contact information:

Essex County Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE),
Sharon J. Garvey Location,
3 Sisco Street. Small Conference Room - 2nd Floor,
Westport, NY 12993.
Phone: 518-962-4810.
Fax: 518-962-8241

Essex County Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE),
PO Box 388,
Westport, NY 12993.