Fire departments may be established in districts containing not less than one thousand inhabitants, or not less than five hundred inhabitants in towns the population of which does not exceed two thousand; and the officers thereof shall have charge of and be responsible for the apparatus for the extinguishment of fire therein, in the same manner as firewards and enginemen of towns.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 48, § 60
Establishment of fire departments in districts; duties of officers
Official source: Massachusetts Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Massachusetts statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.