What is the Rhode Island Southern Firefighter’s League?
The Rhode Island Southern Firefighter’s League was originally incorporated as the Southern Fire League on May 14, 1954 and consisted of the volunteer fire departments in the towns of Charlestown, Hopkinton, Richmond, and Westerly. The league’s purpose was for mutual aid and radio communications.
The league was reorganized in August of 2000 and incorporated as the Rhode Island Southern Firemen’s League. Its purpose was increased to include the joint purchasing of accident and sickness insurance, regional training, joint purchasing of equipment, sharing of a dispatch center, and the sharing of knowledge along with continuing our mission of mutual aid and radio communications. The league once again changed its name in February of 2018 to be inclusive of all of our members to the Rhode Island Southern Firefighter’s League.
The league has expanded and now consists of the following fire districts, associations, and departments:
| Ashaway Ambulance Association |
Exeter #2 Fire District |
Richmond-Carolina Fire District |
| Ashaway Fire District |
Hianloland Fire Association |
Union Fire District |
| Block Island Fire & Rescue |
Hope Valley Ambulance |
Watch Hill Fire District |
| Charlestown Ambulance-Rescue Service |
Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire District |
West Greenwich #1 Fire Department |
| Charlestown Fire District |
Kingston Fire District |
Westerly Ambulance Corps. |
| Dunn’s Corners Fire District |
Misquamicut Fire District |
Westerly Fire District |
| Exeter #1 Fire District |
Narragansett Fire/Rescue |
Western Coventry Fire Department |
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| The League also invites the area EMA directors and area dispatch centers as well as vendors to be associate members. |
Presently the league covers an estimated 1/3 of the state’s square mileage using an estimated 1200 volunteer fire and EMS personnel. Unlike fire districts in other parts of our state, the league relies on men and women volunteers with very few paid personnel. These men and women sacrifice hundreds of hours training and responding to calls for service and being away from their families, saving their taxpayers thousands of dollars in property taxes.
The league also supports, with all volunteers the Hope Valley regional hazardous materials/WMD team and the Kingston Decon team. These teams are certified by RIEMA and cover Washington County and beyond.
Thanks to the Union Fire District and Rhode Island Fire Academy’s training facilities, courses provided by the academy, training from the RIEMA, and programs run through the league’s training committee, our fire and EMS personnel are some of the best trained in the State!
We take great pride in the league’s accomplishments since forming in 1954 and hope with the continuing support of our local legislators we will be able to continue for many years to come.
If at any time any firefighter, EMS provider, legislator, vendor, or members of the public have any questions, please contact one of our league officers.
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