On behalf of the Arlington Fire District, welcome to our website, and thank you for taking the time to visit.  Since 1922, the men and women of Arlington have continuously provided the highest possible levels of Fire and Emergency Medical Services protection.  We continuously strive to meet the emergency services demands of our ever-changing community.  I am extremely proud and honored to be able to serve as your Fire Chief, and assist our dedicated staff in providing these critical services to the community.

The Arlington Fire District is a combination department providing fire/rescue, non-transport Advanced Life Support (Paramedic) EMS care, Hazardous Materials response, technical rescue, & general public safety services to the majority of the Town of Poughkeepsie, NY.  We protect a 22 square mile District from 4 stations, and provide fire & EMS mutual aid throughout the county to assist our neighboring agencies when needed.  Our average response time to fire or EMS emergencies District-wide is less than 5 minutes from the time of our notification via the Dutchess County 911 Center.  We operate a fleet of 6 engines, 2 ladders, 1 heavy rescue, 1 brush truck, & various support/reserve apparatus. The population of our District is over 35,000, increasing to approximately 42,500 when the colleges & boarding schools are in session. Our Swiftwater rescue team has been deployed to disasters across the state and we are the largest participant in a regional technical rescue team providing Confined Space, Structural Collapse, Swiftwater, Trench, Rope, & Ice Rescue services at the technician level.  We have full time fire prevention & training divisions. Our fire prevention program received the NYS Fire Prevention Program of the Year in 2011 from the NY State Association of Fire Chiefs.

Under state law, Fire Districts are independent political subdivisions, governed by 5 publicly elected Fire Commissioners.  We are 100% supported by taxes and have no other sources of revenue, besides what we are able to receive through state or federal grants.  Since 2013, we have been awarded over $1.5 million in grants.

We are the largest & busiest combination fire department in the state, responding to around 6,000 incidents annually with a staff of 80 career firefighters, 1 civilian paramedic, 1 civilian mechanic & 35 volunteers. Of the volunteers, 10 are interior qualified, 6 are EMTs, while the remainder fulfill various support positions (probationary, fire police, admin, etc.) 28 of the career firefighters are paramedics and the remainder are EMTs.  Our paramedic-staffed engines respond to every request for EMS service.  We have a partnership with Mobile Life Support Services to provide ambulance transportation to the local hospitals.

Our response area includes 8 elementary, 2 middle, & 2 high schools. There is also a K-12 private day school & a K-12 private boarding school -- over 6,000 students in total. Our District includes 3 nursing homes and 4 senior citizen housing developments.  We protect Vassar College, an ivy-league style school with 3,000 students and 500 faculty & staff, spread over a 1,000 acre campus. Ranked in the top 10 liberal arts colleges in the US, it has 100 buildings on campus (many over 100 years old) with several on the National Registry for Historic Buildings. We have a number of large manufacturing / industrial sites, most notably the 400 acre IBM site, with a daily workforce of more than 5,000 people. Our District contains 10 miles of 6 lane, divided state highways, with multiple at-grade crossings, and driveways, plus an additional 150+ miles of other roadways.  We protect 7 miles of the Hudson River and its shoreline, and 7 miles of railroad tracks, immediately adjacent to the river, with extremely limited access for emergency vehicles. These tracks carry both freight & passenger train traffic. More than 6,500 people travel these rails daily. In 2020, there are 600 housing units and 3 hotels recently occupied, or are currently under construction.

Hopefully, you or your family will never require our services, but if you should, rest assured that our dedicated and highly trained staff of career and volunteer members will do everything within their power to assist you in your time of need.

Sincerely,

William A. Steenbergh

Chief