Richmond Volunteer Fire Dept Inc.

Richmond Volunteer Fire Dept Inc. The official page of the Richmond Volunteer Fire Dept Inc. in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

Another night working on the hydrants around town to make sure they are clear of debris and ready for any emergency.
05/12/2026

Another night working on the hydrants around town to make sure they are clear of debris and ready for any emergency.

With the warm weather settling in, and the April showers making way for May flowers, it's time to flush the hydrants in ...
05/05/2026

With the warm weather settling in, and the April showers making way for May flowers, it's time to flush the hydrants in town. But don't panic. Unlike the big city hydrant flushes, this won't interfere with your homes water supply.

In small towns like ours, we don't have the luxury of pressurized water mains feeding hydrated. In an emergency we have to get our water from dry hydrants which lead to streams, rivers and bodies of water like lakes and ponds, and transport it to the scene.

Anyway, over the course of the fall, winter, and early spring as the snow melts and heavy April showers, sediment can land on the strainer at the end of the pipes to the dry hydrant which can cause it to clog. About this time every year the department goes out and pushes water through the dry hydrant backwards to blow all of the sediment away from the strainer. After that is done we then change directions and draft the water back to the trucks to make sure the hydrants aren't clogged and work properly.

It's a great opportunity for driving training, pump training and refreshing and getting to know our community and the dry hydrants that serve it. We will be out again next week, doing the same to the remaining hydrants.

Today was the pancake breakfast at the Richmond Consolidated School for the Richmond Food and Fuel Fund. Big thank you t...
05/02/2026

Today was the pancake breakfast at the Richmond Consolidated School for the Richmond Food and Fuel Fund. Big thank you to everyone that came by for some delicious pancakes.
After, the day crew helped out with the town clean up, taking the shores area from the boat ramp to Swamp Rd. Another thank you to those that stopped by to chat and talk with the crew.

We need your help!! Please share, and tell your friends.
05/01/2026

We need your help!! Please share, and tell your friends.

We're always training! Days, nights, weekends! Near and Far! Shout out to our member taking the trip to Huntington tonig...
05/01/2026

We're always training! Days, nights, weekends! Near and Far! Shout out to our member taking the trip to Huntington tonight to use the MFA maze trailer. Several attended the same trailer in New Marlborough a few weekends ago.

The departments tanker made the trip down to Great Barrington yesterday for a structure fire on Stockbridge Rd.It would ...
04/25/2026

The departments tanker made the trip down to Great Barrington yesterday for a structure fire on Stockbridge Rd.
It would be easier to list the South County departments that weren't there to help out on this 2 alarm fire.
It was a big operation. Glad we could help when ever, where ever we are needed.

I hope no one is afraid of the dark!Nobody was last night as each member one by one went into our pitch black storage cl...
04/14/2026

I hope no one is afraid of the dark!

Nobody was last night as each member one by one went into our pitch black storage closet to untangle a surprise spaghetti SCBA pack that was left for them. Each team member took turns trying to return the air pack to it's original working form. The battery and air bottle was removed and the straps and hoses were twisted and contorted, and everyone got a bit of a surprise added in.
All team members succeeded in untangling their air pack and putting it on themselves as if ready to go into an emergency.
Another twist is they had to wear their structure fire gloves which are thick insulated fire resistant material that makes dextarity a bit more difficult.
So don't adjust your screens. That blacked out photo is the phosphorescent stickers or glow in the dark material that comes on the air bottles. It was the only light they had the entire time.
If the team can better familiarize themselves with these challenges blind folded, then they should have no problem doing it in daylight.

Tonight's training was fun. We made (to the best of our ability) a real life scenario for a patient under cardiac arrest...
04/07/2026

Tonight's training was fun.

We made (to the best of our ability) a real life scenario for a patient under cardiac arrest. Two members "responded" (as our day crew) to evaluate and start compressions. Two members would step in a few minutes later, as if responding as volunteers away from the station. Several more a few minutes after that. Compressions continued, the Lucas device was initiated, the patient was loaded up, extricated from the "dwelling" and loaded into the ambulance.
This scenario was played through several times and extricated down different routes for practice.
The LUCAS device is a portable, automated medical device used by first responders to deliver consistent, high-quality chest compressions to patients in cardiac arrest. It acts as an extra pair of hands, preventing fatigue and providing continuous, uninterrupted CPR during transport.

It was something different we don't do often. A nice change and an amazing refresher.
Thank you to the day crew Bart and Chris for leading the training. Awesome team work by all.

More brush fire training tonight.Crews took out the brush truck, utility vehicle and an engine for driver training and p...
03/31/2026

More brush fire training tonight.

Crews took out the brush truck, utility vehicle and an engine for driver training and pump operation. Both the brush truck and utility vehicle have skid units on the backs of them which both have tanks for water, hose reels and pumps. Both are great for getting deep into the woods where our engines can not, during a brush fire. The utility vehicle also has a flat bed where a patient can be loaded up in a stokes basket to be transported out of hard to reach areas to ambulances standing by.
The engine was used at Rossitter Rd pond as a fill site. The utility vehicles drove off into hard to reach areas, one member started the pump while the other used the hand lines to flow water for a little while, and then they would switch positions. One member drove it out, the other drove it back. Then the crews switched vehicles.
Really a simple night. A refresher on how to safely operate and maneuver the utility vehicles in the woods and how to get the pumps running and flowing water.
It was also good time for some members to practice pump operations with the new engine.

We're looking forward to beautiful weather and getting outdoors to train!

Great work by everyone that assisted Lenox Fire Department in their efforts yesterday to extinguish a fully involved str...
12/06/2025

Great work by everyone that assisted Lenox Fire Department in their efforts yesterday to extinguish a fully involved structure fire at the Wagon Wheel Motel on Pittsfield Rd in the early morning. All occupants evacuated safety.

Richmond Tanker responded with a crew to run water supply with others tanker forces from the surrounding area, for extra resources along side the hydrants in that area. Sadly the building was lost and operations could safely continue with the use of the hydrants alone and the Tanker Task Force was cleared early on.

Thank you to all the first responders across Berkshire County that participated in this incident through 0° weather.

Address

35 Firehouse Lane
Richmond, MA
01254

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