If you’ve ever flown in or out of Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, you’ve benefited from the presence of Vermont’s Air National Guard base, home of the 158th Fighter Wing. Its hangars are visible across the tarmac from the BTV terminal.
The base is best known as the home of 20 F-35 fighter jets, but it also houses another fleet of equipment that’s more important to Vermonters’ daily lives — its state-of-the-art firefighting and emergency support vehicles. The newest of the base’s four fire trucks cost roughly a million dollars.
If there’s an emergency at the airport or on the runway with a civilian plane, it’s VTANG’s fire and rescue unit that responds.
In fact, the unit is also the primary agency responsible for 911 calls from nearby South Burlington neighborhoods, and it provides backup for first responders throughout Chittenden County, from Winooski to Williston to Shelburne.
In 2024, the VTANG fire department fielded more than 1,000 calls, including approximately 500 emergency responses, with 86 percent of those being mutual-aid responses in the community, according to Lt. Col. Meghan Smith, VTANG’s public affairs officer.
The department is staffed by 27 rigorously trained professionals, many of whom also serve on volunteer fire and rescue squads in the communities where they live. Those towns benefit from the top-notch training the department provides. Fire chief Brannon Soter estimates that it costs between $5 million and $6 million a year to run the department — money that comes from the federal government, not local property taxes or the airport.
“A lot of people don’t know about who we are and what we do, or what we’re able to do,” Soter said. “It just benefits everybody around.”
The base brings other assets, too, for Vermonters and our allies around the world. Read on for more examples.
Driving economic impact
The VTANG base employs 400 full-time and 600 part-time staff members, compensating them with a combined $65 million in pay and benefits.
Many of them are from Vermont, like fire chief Soter, but some live in other states and travel here to complete their service requirements. When they do, they stay in local hotels, said Col. Daniel Finnegan, 158th Fighter Wing commander.
Finnegan noted that people sign up to serve in Vermont because the base has a good reputation among service members who want to fly or work with the F-35s. They know “the people they’ll serve alongside are smart, experienced and motivated,” he said.
The F-35s are also an asset when it comes to receiving federal funds — the number of flights that take off and land at the airport increases the overall airport activity, which is a factor in receiving funds from the Federal Aviation Administration. Leahy BTV has received tens of millions of dollars in FAA grants in recent years, many of them thanks to retired senator Patrick Leahy. Losing the jets would put those and future grants at risk.
A leader in alternative energy
The VTANG base is powered, in part, by solar energy. “We currently have the largest operating solar array in the Air National Guard,” Col. Finnegan said. Thank U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for that — he facilitated an $8.8 million grant to build it.
The solar panels produce about a quarter of the base’s energy needs. That’s expected to rise to a third upon completion of a $2.8 million expansion, funded by the Energy Resilience & Conservation Investment Program. It also includes a storage system that will be able to supply power to the fire and rescue station in the event of an emergency at the airport.
The base also uses geothermal heat pumps to efficiently heat and cool multiple facilities. Beta Technologies, the electric aircraft startup that’s also based at the airport, uses more geothermal power, but the base has had it longer. Said Finnegan proudly, “We can still say we were first.”
Finnegan sees boosting the base’s ability to generate energy as “a significant step forward” for his fighter wing. “By leveraging renewable energy sources, we are not only reducing our carbon footprint but also ensuring that our fire station can maintain operations during power outages. This is a win for both the environment and our mission readiness.”
All told, the expansion project will bring the base close to covering a third of its electrical needs with renewable sources.
“This is more than just energy savings,” Finnegan emphasized. “It’s about setting a standard for how we can continue to integrate renewable energy to support our mission, safeguard our facilities and contribute to a sustainable future for Vermont.”
Serving Vermont — and Beyond
Most guard units have one strategic partnership with another, smaller nation — a country that benefits from U.S. training and assistance. Vermont works with three countries: Austria, North Macedonia and Senegal. The VTANG medical group went to Senegal for a couple months to run field clinics, for example.
These partnerships give Vermonters an opportunity to serve not only their home state but also others around the world. The guard also fulfills other strategic assignments: A third of its members are currently deployed to Japan and other areas around the globe.
Chief Master Sgt. Jeffrey Steadman grew up on a dairy farm in Monkton and now lives with his family in Vergennes. “This has really made the difference for me.”
The guard helped him earn a college degree. His kids grew up around the base; it felt like a family. “The guard can be a perfect fit for a lot of people,” he said.
How VTANG Serves Vermont
- 86%
of the VTANG fire department’s emergency responses are civilian-related - 1,000
Number of full- and part-time employees who work at the VTANG base - $65 million
The annual sum of salary and benefits for base employees - #1
The VTANG’s solar array is the largest in the Air National Guard
Who are the Green Mountain “Boys”?
- 20%
of assigned personnel are women - 50%
of first sergeants are women
This article was commissioned and paid for by Pomerleau Real Estate.
