Master Plan Nashua Fire Rescue, NH
The following communities and rivers border the City of Nashua.
Figure 3. Nashua’s Borders
Border Direction
Merrimack North
Pennichuck Brook North
Litchfield Northeast
Dunstable South
Tyngsborough, MA South
Merrimack River East
Hudson East
Hollis West
NASHUA FIRE RESCUE
Nashua Fire Rescue was established in 1853 when the towns of Nashville and Nashua combined to protect a
growing mill town with 7,000 mostly immigrant workers. The Department was organized as a volunteer fire
department and transitioned to being a career fire department in the 1950s.
Governance and Lines of Authority
The City of Nashua operates under a Mayor-Alderman form of government. The Board of Aldermen is a 15-
person legislative body that is elected to either a two- or four-year term. There are six at-large aldermen that
are elected to four-year terms (with three of these elected in opposite cycles every two years). Each of the
nine wards has an elected alderman whose terms are two-years. The position of Mayor is elected every four
years.
The Board of Fire Commissioners is the elected board charged with the responsibility of the operation of the
fire department. The City of Nashua Charter is the foundational policy document for the establishment and
operation of the Fire Department. Specifically, Subpart A §73. Fire commissioners, how chosen. This document
establishes the Board of Fire Commissioners. This is a five-member board, and each is an elected position.
Each term is four years, and they are elected every two years.
According to this chapter, the Board shall exercise all powers and perform all the duties that the laws and
ordinances now prescribe, or will be hereafter.
In Subpart B-Related Laws §§ A-101-A-1214 of the same document, Chapter 7 provides additional legislation.
Chapter 7. Fire Department, states in summary that the fire department of the City of Nashua shall consist of
a Board of Fire Commissioners. These are elected officials (as indicated in §73), and they cannot hold any
other municipal office. The Board of Fire Commissioners will select one member to serve as the chairperson
of the Board. They will also select a clerk. The Board is responsible for making rules and regulations for their
own government and the government of all other officers and members of the fire department. In addition,
they are responsible for all buildings (including the land) and apparatuses.
ESC) Emergency Services
Consulting International 7
