Fire study finds code violations at two stations

Select Board · Meeting of October 6, 2026

Yarmouth's fire department fails national response standards and two stations lack legal fire escapes, a consultant's study found. Center for Public Safety Management's Peter Finley Jr. told the Select Board that Fire Station 2, built in 1940, has no second means of egress from its upstairs bunk room, which board member Dorcas McGurrin called "just unacceptable to me." The study recommends raising per-shift staffing from 13 to 21 firefighters by 2036 and building a fourth station, while finding only 32.9 percent of town land meets the national 240-second fire-response benchmark and that 57.2 percent of calls overlap with at least one other call. Separately, the board unanimously adopted the Old King's Highway election warrant for November 30, and the Planning Board dropped a proposed one-short-term-rental-per-owner cap from its November 16 Special Town Meeting article after public pushback.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,124 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 6, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.