Greenfield has sadly bid farewell to retiring Fire Chief Jeff LaCourse, who served as chief of the Greenfield Fire Department for the past two and a half years. Chief LaCourse was a calm and steady hand at the Fire Department and was appreciated by all. We wish the happiest of retirements to Chief LaCourse and his wife, Diane, who are off to new adventures in Florida.
The good news is that Chazz Babb, who has been with the department since 2013, has stepped into the position. Before serving as an officer and captain for many years in Greenfield, Babb was a member of the Peterborough Fire Department’s Explorer program for several years.
Chief Babb is excited about the recent influx of the department’s new volunteers, which includes 12 new firefighters.
“We’ve lowered our average age, which is a good thing,” Babb said. “Our average age has been in the 60’s for a while, and while you definitely need people with experience, you also need a balance and some younger people to literally do the heavy lifting.”
Babb said that many of the volunteers are able to be a part of the department thanks to the “Bunk In” program started by former Chief Dave Hall. The program enables firefighters who live out of town to volunteer in Greenfield and stay at the station.
“It is great for people who live in larger towns where it is all professional firefighters, but they would like to volunteer and get experience. This way, they can be a part of our department, and we are happy to have them,” Babb said.
The Greenfield Fire Department has 28 firefighters who cover the station 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each firefighter does one or more overnight shifts a week, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Babb says finding daytime coverage is the hardest, as most members of the department work out of town during the day or don’t live in town.
“We have a few people who work remotely, and of course I am always in town, but there are not a lot of big employers in town,” said Babb, who is also Greenfield’s Postmaster. “In an emergency, I can always leave the office, and my staff can cover.”
The majority of the department’s calls, as with all local fire departments, are medical response calls.
“Eighty to 85% of our calls are medical calls,” Babb said. “Most people have some medical training, but not everyone is interested in it. People who don’t have medical training still respond and help in a support capacity.”
All officers are required to have medical certification, ranging from EMR to paramedic level.
Babb says medical calls have gone up in 2025, which is also true of other local fire departments, due to the region’s aging population
Looking ahead, Babb is hoping the department will be able to add some new specialized equipment to its inventory, including for ice rescue and swift water rescue. Greenfield has three lakes, countless ponds, and multiple access points to the Contoocook River and Powdermill Pond.
Also on the wish list is communication apparatus for use inside the fire trucks.
“The comms units are a lot more effective for communication than trying to yell over the sound of the truck or over a fire,” Babb said.
Babb said he also hopes the department will someday be able to build a training facility, but plans are still very preliminary.
“We have barely even started talking about this, but I would love at some point to have two Conex boxes (fire training structure) to train the team for live fire and for mazes and obstacles, for working in the dark, all of that,” Babb said.
In 2023, the department trained at a live burn of a condemned building at Seven Hills Crotched Mountain School. Babb says the department has a strong relationship with Seven Hills and may potentially be able to use other buildings on the campus for upcoming training.
“There is a building undergoing a complete remodel that we may be able to use to practice search and rescue, and there is potentially another building that could be used for a burn; we will see,” Babb said.
The department is also gearing up for the fifth annual Fire and Ice celebration on Dec. 6. Launched in 2020 as a way to get townspeople together safely during the isolating years of the pandemic, the outdoor celebration and parade of lights is a highlight of the year in Greenfield.
Babb says the Fire and Ice committee is looking for floats for this year’s theme, “The Night Before Christmas.”