Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 221: Fire mobilization districts

Date: 06/30/1982
Issuer: Edward J. King
Mass Register: No. 319
Superseding: Provisions of Executive Order 27
Replacing: Executive Order 37

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, the organization of contractual or voluntary mutual aid systems among the fire departments of the cities, towns and districts of the Commonwealth has reached such stage of development that is practicable and desirable and in the best interests of the Civil Defense program of the Commonwealth, to begin to utilize such contractual or voluntary mutual aid systems as the basis for mobilization of fire fighting forces during periods of emergency declared by the Governor; and

WHEREAS, such utilization of said contractual or voluntary mutual aid systems will permit more rapid and effective mobilization of fire fighting forces during such periods of emergency and, in addition, strengthen and encourage systems of contractual or voluntary mutual aid among fire departments for purposes of non- disaster fire fighting, thus improving both the plan and program for the Civil Defense of the Commonwealth and the fire protection normally afforded to the inhabitants thereof;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, EDWARD J. KING, Governor of the Commonwealth, acting under the provisions of the Acts of 1950, Chapter 639, as amended, and in particular, sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 11(c), 16 and 20 thereof, and any other powers vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, do hereby issue this order as a necessary preparatory step in advance of actual disaster and as part of the comprehensive plan and program for the Civil Defense of the Commonwealth.

I. There are hereby established the following fire mobilization districts composed of the cities and towns indicated:

Number 1. Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Gay Head, Gosnold, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury and Yarmouth.

Number 2. Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Middleboro, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Rochester, Rockland, Scituate, Wareham, West Bridgewater, and Whitman.

Number 3. Acushnet, Attleboro, Berkley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton and Westport.

Number 4. Avon, Bellingham, Canton, Dover, Easton, Foxborough, Franklin, Holbrook, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Norwood, Randolph, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole, Westwood and Wrentham.

Number 5. Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Hamilton, Ipswich, Lynnfield, Manchester, Marblehead, Middleton, Nahant, Peabody, Rockport, Salem, Swampscott, Topsfield and Wenham.

Number 6. Andover, Ayer, Bedford, Billerica, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Lowell, North Reading, Pepperell, Shirley, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford and Wilmington.

Number 7. Auburn, Blackstone, Brookfield, Charlton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Grafton, Hopedale, Leicester, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northborough, Northbridge, North Brookfield, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Warren, Webster, Westborough, West Brookfield and Worcester.

Number 8. Ashburnham, Ashby, Barre, Berlin, Bolton, Boylston, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Hardwick, Harvard, Holden, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leominster, Lunenburg, New Braintree, Oakham, Paxton, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Royalston, Rutland, Sterling, Templeton, Townsend, West Boylston, Westminster and Winchendon.

Number 9. Ashfield, Athol, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Erving, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendall and Whately.

Number 10. Amherst, Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Northampton, Pelham, Plainfield, Southhampton, South Hadley, Ware, Williamsburg, Westhampton and Worthington.

Number 11. Agawam, Blandford, Brimfield, Chester, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Grandville, Hampden, Holland, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Montgomery, Palmer, Russell, Southwick, Springfield, Tolland, Wales, Westfield, West Springfield and Wilbraham.

Number 12. Adams, Alford, Becket, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Dalton, Egremont, Florida, Great Barrington, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Otis, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield, Stockbridge, Savoy, Sheffield, Tyringham, Washington, West Stockbridge, Williamstown and Windsor.

Number 13. Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Lexington, Lynn, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Needham, Newton, Quincy, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Weymouth, Winchester, Winthrop, and Woburn.

Number 14. Acton, Ashland, Boxborough, Concord, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlborough, Maynard, Natick, Sherborn, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury and Wayland.

Number 15. Amesbury, Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimac, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.

Fire and Water Districts as established under the provisions of General Laws chapter 48, section 60 shall be considered to be a part of the town or towns which they are located within for the purposes of this order. 2. For purposes of mobilization of fire-fighting forces, the several fire mobilization districts shall be regarded as lying within the following Civil Defense Areas as indicated:

Area 1. No. 5, 6, 13 and 15

Area 2. No. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Area 3. No. 7, 8 and 14

Area 4. No. 9, 10, 11 and 12

3. In each fire mobilization district, there shall be a district fire mobilization coordinator (hereinafter called the district coordinator) who shall be appointed by the State Director of Civil Defense upon recommendation of the heads of fire departments from among the Heads of the Fire Departments within the fire mobilization district and who may be removed by said Director of Civil Defense. During a state of emergency declared under the provisions of Section 5 of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended, a district coordinator (or his authorized representative) is hereby authorized to order any city, town, or fire district within the fire mobilization district to send fire fighting assistance to any other city, town or fire district within the same fire mobilization district, for the purpose of combating the effects of the disaster on account of which the state of emergency has been declared or for the purpose of covering for firefighting forces of the other city, town or fire district which have been ordered elsewhere on account of such disaster, provided, however, that such assistance shall be ordered to be sent to any city, town or fire district only upon request of the Head of the Fire Department of such city, town or fire district or upon the request of a person exercising the powers and performing the duties of said Head of the Fire Department. A city, town or fire district receiving such order is hereby authorized and directed to send firefighting assistance in accordance therewith, it being the intention hereby to exercise through the directors of the several fire mobilization districts the authority conferred upon the Governor by Section 11 (c) of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended. The authority hereby conferred upon the several district coordinators may be exercised by them by means of plans for the automatic dispatch, when authorized by this Order, of firefighting personnel and equipment. All movements of personnel or equipment carried out pursuant to this section, shall be reported forthwith by the district coordinator to the area fire coordinator of the Civil Defense area in which the district lies as specified in Section 2 of this Order.

4. In each Civil Defense area, there shall be an area fire mobilization coordinator (hereinafter called the area fire coordinator) who shall be appointed by the State Director of Civil Defense upon recommendation of the Heads of Fire Departments from among the Heads of the Fire Departments within the area and who may be removed by said Director of Civil Defense. During a state of emergency declared under the provisions of Section 5 of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended, the area fire coordinator or his authorized representative is hereby, authorized to order the mobilization and dispatch of firefighting assistance from any fire mobilization district in his area, as specified in Section 2 of this Order, to any fire mobilization district in his area, upon request of the District Coordinator thereof, for the purpose of combating the effects of the disaster on account of which the state of emergency has been declared or for the purpose of covering for firefighting forces. The district coordinator or his authorized representative receiving such order is hereby authorized and directed to mobilize and dispatch firefighting assistance in accordance with the order of the area fire coordinator, and any city, town or fire district ordered by the district coordinator to provide such assistance, or any part thereof, is hereby authorized and directed to provide such assistance in accordance with such order, it being the intention hereby to exercise through the several area fire coordinators the authority conferred upon the Governor by Section 11 (c) of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 as amended. The authority hereby conferred upon the several area fire coordinators may be exercised by them by means of plans for the automatic dispatch, when authorized by this Order, of fire fighting personnel and equipment. All movement of personnel or equipment carried out pursuant to this section, shall be reported forthwith by the area fire coordinator to the State Director of Civil Defense.

5. During a state of emergency declared under the provisions of Section 5 of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended, the State Director of Civil Defense is hereby authorized to order the mobilization and dispatch of fire fighting assistance from any civil defense fire area to any other civil defense fire area, upon the request of the area fire coordinator thereof, for the purpose of combating the effects of the disaster on account of which the state of emergency has been declared or for the purpose of covering for fire fighting forces. An area fire coordinator receiving such order is hereby authorized and directed to mobilize and dispatch fire fighting assistance from any fire mobilization district in his area in accordance with the order of the State Director, and a city, town or fire district ordered to provide such assistance, or any part thereof, is hereby authorized and directed to provide such assistance in accordance with such order, it being the intention hereby to exercise through the State Director of Civil Defense the authority conferred upon the Governor by Section ll(c) of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended. The authority hereby conferred upon the State Director of Civil Defense may be exercised by him by means of plans for the automatic dispatch, when authorized by this Order, of fire fighting personnel and equipment. The authority conferred upon district coordinators and area fire coordinators, respectively, by Sections 3 and 4 of this Order shall be exercised subject to the direction and control of the State Director of Civil Defense or his authorized representative.

6. Fire fighting personnel or equipment dispatched to a city, town or fire district pursuant to any provision of this Order shall be under the command and control of the Head of the Fire Department of said city, town or fire district or under the command of a person exercising the powers and performing the duties of said Head of the Fire Department.

7. Any person exercising authority conferred by any provision of this Order to order firefighting forces dispatched from a city, town or fire district shall, in exercising such authority, give due regard to the maintenance of responsible fire protection in said city, town or fire district.

8. The provisions of this Executive Order shall be incorporated into a Fire Defense Operational Plan for the purpose of carrying out the intent of this declaration.

9. The provisions of Section ll(c) of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950, as amended, shall apply to fire fighting personnel and equipment dispatched under the authority of this Order but shall not apply to such personnel or equipment dispatched under the provisions of General Laws chapter 48, section 59A, or General Laws chapter 40, section 4A, or any act in amendment thereof/or succession thereto.

10. Unless otherwise specified in the Order requiring the dispatch of firefighting personnel, auxiliary firemen may be dispatched for service under the authority of this Order and auxiliary firemen so dispatched, or called to stand-by duty within their respective cities, towns or fire districts to cover for regular personnel dispatched to another city, town or fire district under the authority hereof, shall be deemed to be performing duty for the purposes of Section llA of Chapter 639, as amended, of the Acts of 1950.

11. The State Director of Civil Defense, in consultation with area fire coordinators and district coordinators may authorize such training exercises as he may deem appropriate for the purpose of implementing this Order. Any such training exercise authorized by the State Director shall be deemed to be an exercise authorized by him within the meaning of Section 11(e) of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 as inserted by Chapter 684 of the Acts of 1947. Auxiliary firemen participating in such training exercise shall be deemed to be performing training for the purposes of Section 11A of Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950 as amended.

12. To the extent that the provisions of Executive Order #27 may be inconsistent herewith, as applied to the mobilization of fire fighting forces, this order shall supersede such provisions of Executive Order #27. This Executive Order replaces Executive Order #37.

13. The State Director of Civil Defense is authorized upon the recommendations of the Heads of Fire Departments within the district to designate within each fire mobilization district a fire mobilization control center or alternate control center and to make changes in such designation from time to time as he may deem appropriate. The State Director of Civil Defense is further authorized subject to the availability of funds, to install, maintain and operate, at the expense of the Commonwealth, such control center communications facilities as he may deem necessary or appropriate to the implementation of this Order.

14. Nothing contained in this Order shall be deemed to interfere with the operation of mutual aid systems entered into between cities, towns or fire districts under any applicable provision of law.

15. Nothing contained in this Order shall be construed to interfere with the carrying out of any evacuation plan authorized under Executive Order No. 31, provided, however, that firefighting forces evacuated or dispersed out of a city, town or fire district shall be subject to the orders of the coordinator of the fire mobilization district to which such firefighting forces may be evacuated or dispersed.

16. The State Director of Civil Defense is hereby authorized upon the recommendations of the Heads of Fire Departments within the district to make changes in the fire mobilization districts established by this Order, by increasing or decreasing the number thereof (and to make appointments or terminations of District Fire Mobilization Coordinators made necessary thereby), by transferring any city or town from one district to another, by designating or changing the designation of the area within which any fire mobilization district shall be deemed to lie, or by making any other change in said fire mobilization districts that said Director of Civil Defense may deem necessary or appropriate. Any such change so made by the State Director of Civil Defense shall be duly published and a record thereof shall be filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth as soon thereafter as may be practicable.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 30th day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eighty-two and of the Independence of the United States of America, two hundred and six.

EDWARD J. KING

GOVERNOR

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY

Secretary of the Commonwealth

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