Department profile

Career (Paid)EMS Provider

Watertown Fire Department

Watertown, MA · Middlesex County. Watertown Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department, 3 stations and 94 total personnel. The department also provides EMS services. According to the HIFLD fire-station federal registry (as of 2026-09), full equipment, coverage, and staffing data are below.

94
Total personnel
3
Stations
Not reported
Fire trucks
Yes
EMS service

The verdict

Watertown Fire Department pairs top-5% national personnel with a headcount more than double the Massachusetts average.

Top 5%
national personnel size
+169%
vs. Massachusetts average
3
stations
$1,242,205
FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record

National percentile ranks this department's personnel headcount against every listable U.S. department with reported staffing; the state comparison uses the same personnel figure against its own state's average. Both feed the verdict sentence and the chips above.

C
PlainFireData Composite Score
46/100
Watertown Fire Department

A staffing, equipment, EMS-integration, and federal-grant-funding composite benchmarked against every other USFA-registered department nationally, not a safety rating, response-time measure, or comparison of fire risk. Dimensions with no data on file are excluded and their weight redistributed, never counted as zero.

Staffing capacity B
31.3 personnel per station (national median 23.5)
Equipment readiness F
0.7 vehicles per station (national median 2)
EMS integration
No EMS staffing breakdown on file
Federal investment C
$13,215 in AFG grant funding per staff member (national median $11,875, among departments with a grant on file)
94 personnel · 3 stations

Watertown Fire Department is a Career (Paid) department serving Watertown, MA (Middlesex County), with 3 stations and 94 total personnel. According to HIFLD fire-station registry fields; among listable U.S. departments with reported personnel it ranks #1,090 of 22,440. Cumulative FEMA AFG/SAFER awards on record: $1,242,205.

  • National personnel rank #1,090 of 22,440
  • MA personnel rank #34 of 326
  • 3.19 stations per 100 personnel
  • EMS provider (HIFLD)
  • 65 other listed departments in Middlesex County

Watertown Fire Department vs. the national personnel distribution

Where this department's HIFLD-reported staffing sits among every listable U.S. fire department

94 Top 5% higher than 95% of 22,440 departments

Listable U.S. fire departments, banded by total personnel

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more departments. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source HIFLD fire-station registry · 2026-09-06

Dispatch plate

Sheet 17314 · Watertown Fire Department, MA 94 personnel · 3 stations

PERS-MID · STA-FEW · TYPE-CAREER · EMS-Y · RANK-TOP · PHOTO-FINISH · FEMA-MID · BOOK-FULL

  • PERS-MID 94
  • STA-FEW 3 stations
  • TYPE-CAREER Career
  • EMS-Y EMS on file
  • RANK-TOP #1,090
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ New Hackensack Fi…
  • FEMA-MID $1.2M
  • BOOK-FULL 5/5 fields

Nearest personnel peer: New Hackensack Fire District, NY (+ 0 personnel)

Career/paid HIFLD roster counts, station rows, EMS flag, listable personnel rank, photo-finish peer, and FEMA AFG/SAFER book for this FDID, not a readiness rating.

Personnel neighbourhood

Nationwide HIFLD headcount poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every MA department.

Department Profile

Type
CAREER
Location
Watertown, MA
FDID
17314

FEMA Grant History

$1.2M
Cumulative funding (FY2014–2019)
4
Awards
Year Award Amount
2019 EMW-2019-FG-04738 $181,818
2016 EMW2015FO00837 $221,637
2014 EMW2013FH00678 $652,000
2014 EMW2013FO04017 $186,750

Source: USAspending.gov (CFDA 97.044 AFG / 97.083 SAFER)

Staffing vs the Massachusetts average

How Watertown Fire Department's personnel count compares to the typical department in Massachusetts. In-state it ranks #34 of 326 by personnel among listable departments with reported staffing. Nationally it ranks #1,090 of 22,440 on the same basis as the largest-departments ranking.

▲ 169% above the state average
Stations
3
State fire deaths/yr
51
MA departments
568

County roster fringe

Watertown Fire Department is 2.5% of Middlesex County roster mass

The county lists 95 departments totaling 3,724 personnel, so this roster is a small slice; 99% of county departments show EMS coverage. County / state rollup.

3.19 stations per 100 HIFLD personnel (3 stations / 94 roster).

Photo-finish peer: New Hackensack Fire District, NY (+0 personnel).

Nearby Departments

Acton Fire Department
Acton · career
Arlington Fire Department
Arlington · career
Ashby Fire Department
Ashby · volunteer
Ashland Fire Department
Ashland · career
Ayer Fire Department
Ayer · volunteer
Bedford Fire Department
Bedford · career
Belmont Fire Department
Belmont · career
All MA departments →

Nationwide career peers near 94 personnel

Photo-finish and same-type HIFLD neighbours for this FDID, not a reprint of every MA department.