MA, NH, ME Trip Questions

[Guest]

Hello New Englanders!

My wife and I will be exploring the City of Boston and the Route 1 area up to Portland for a couple days .  I'm familiar with the Boston Metro Firehouses but not really with anything north of there.  Just curious if anyone has suggestions on good fire related stops / photo ops along the way.  In my searching online I've also found a term I'm unfamiliar with... What is a "Desk Box"? 

 

Thanks in advance!

[hank]

You will be travelling the Route 95 corridor
which parallels Route 1. The major departments
on that ride will be Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME.
Boston to Portland is close to a two hour ride. You
will be passing a mix of paid and volunteer departments.

tHANKs

[Guest]

Portland and the FD's around Portland use the term "Desk Box" for any telephone or 911 call reporting a building fire

[JStrunk866]

It would be slightly out of your way, but Lowell and Lawrence, MA are two old mill city departments just off I495 in the Merrimack Valley.  Both are 25 minutes Northwest of Boston.  Lowell has 8 active firehouses, 2 stations still used for fire prevention and training and a few closed firehouses used for other purposes like social clubs, apartments, office space.  

 

Lawrence has four active stations and few additional closed ones still standing.  Quite a few of the houses date back 100 years or more in both cities.  Always a chance you catch a job while you are in the area, especially Lawrence.  Nashua and Manchester NH are also good stops.  Again just a little out of your way, but not more than an hours drive from where you are going to be.  

 

Two of the larger communities on the route you are taking will be Portsmouth and Portland as Hank mentioned.  Newburyport is also a nice town to stop in, I know they have a paid dept.  The only issue with some of the smaller towns on the North shore of Massachusetts is that not all the stations will be manned 24/7.  I would say most along the route will have some type of staffing during the day time Monday through Friday and some type of on call coverage other times.  Good rule of thumb in New England is that if the population of a community is around 25k (or more) they have some kind of paid department on 24/7, anything under that can be a mix of on call and volunteer staffing.

 

Depending on when you will be around you could stop by my firehouse.  My next two 24s are Tuesday the 8th and Saturday the 12th. 

[JStrunk866]

Forgot to mention Haverhill, MA which is just North of Lawrence.  They have about a half dozen firehouses and a great museum located in the old Armory.  It has limited hours so check before you go, but it is a great take.

[SOlsonBFDL14]

Feel free to come by & visit here as well! Our house is just off I-90 about 5-10min west of downtown Boston, between Boston University & Boston College! I'm working 24 Monday & Thursday next week.

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice and offers!  We'll be staying in Portland the 18th & 19th and will be driving into Boston on the 20th and in town all day on the 21st.

[SOlsonBFDL14]

Sent you a PM!