Between their extensive volunteer careers at West Stafford Fire Department, Chief Joseph Lorenzetti, Deputy Chief Joseph Comarella, and Assistant Chief William Morrison have seen the department change significantly.
Most of that change, they agreed, is due to the department’s exponential growth in staffing and equipment, which coincided with the town itself becoming much busier and more populous. According to Lorenzetti, who joined in 1971 at age 16, the department responded to 56 calls that year. In 2020, that number had ballooned to over 1,000.
Founded in 1946, WSFD is now in its 75th year of operation, and the three top-ranking members, who collectively have over a century of experience at the department, sat down with the Journal Inquirer to discuss the department’s past, present, and future.