DANBURY — Years of work to consolidate seven of the city’s 12 voluntary firefighting companies will be recognized and completed Wednesday during a ceremony at Danbury City Hall.
In 2019, Padanaram Hose, Water Witch Hose, Germantown Volunteer Fire, and Beaver Brook Fire companies were consolidated into the 31st Battalion and Wooster Hose, Citizens Hose, and Phoenix Hose companies were consolidated into the 19th Battalion the following year. Now, consolidation has been formalized through city codes.
“Talks of consolidation is nothing new, but it has been dormant, and we got together as volunteer firefighters a few years ago to really go after it,” said 31st Battalion President Frank Salvatore Jr., citing dwindling volunteer numbers as one of the drivers of consolidation.
With volunteers “in scarce supply” for years, Salvatore said Danbury’s volunteer companies had been competing for membership.
“Instead of fighting over members, seven companies as two battalions can reap benefits from membership,” he said. “You could say the battalions are in conflict with each other. Yes, there will be some overlap – but the beautiful thing is that we are talking and working with each other.
Salvatore said consolidating companies also came with training-related benefits.
“Firefighters now have lots of trucks they can study and respond to,” he said. “This gives members the ability to work on other equipment and makes being a volunteer firefighter even more interesting.”
What to do with vacated stations?
In addition to freeing the city from the costly maintenance of voluntary fire stations, consolidation opens the door to other potential uses for some of the properties.
Salvatore said there were two categories of voluntary fire companies in Danbury – municipal companies and municipal companies – that had existed since there were town and city sections in Danbury.
Since the Padanaram Hose, Citizens Hose, Phoenix Hose, Water Witch Hose, and Wooster Hose originally belonged to the city, Salvatore said their stations would return to the city of Danbury. What is done with the property after that will be a matter for the city.
“In the coming months, we will evaluate each building and order an assessment for this location,” Mayor Dean Esposito said Monday. “After that, we will work with the City Council on the future of these buildings.”
It may be a while before any changes are made to the fire station properties as some are still being used by battalions as they work to build “unified buildings,” Salvatore said.
With headquarters yet to be determined, the 19th Battalion is currently operating out of the Wooster Hose, Citizens Hose, and Phoenix Hose firehouse.
“As of now, all three buildings are owned by the city of Danbury,” said Battalion 19 Chief Chris DiMauro. “We operate as a battalion, as we have been since 2020, but we operate at all three stations until we find a permanent home.”
While the 31st Battalion had made Germantown Volunteer Company station its headquarters, Salvatore said it kept a tanker and engines at Beaver Brook and had his troops respond from the old Water Witch station on Locust Avenue until the Germantown station was expanded.
“We’ve gone through the city process and are waiting for permission to build an addition behind 36 Germantown Road so we can move all the fire departments to that one headquarters,” he said.
Years of process
After presenting the idea to Danbury City Council in 2017, Salvatore said that only seven of the 12 companies wanted to go ahead with consolidation.
Four companies came together in 2018 to form Battalion 31, which held its first organizational meeting in March 2019. The following month, the state officially recognized the battalion as a business unit.
The 19th Battalion followed soon after, holding its first official meeting and receiving state recognition in early 2020.
“Both battalions are recognized by the IRS as 501(c)(3), so we are a tax-exempt charitable organization,” says Salvatore.
After that, officials began work on Danbury’s code of ordinances.
“In 2020, we started working with the mayor and some members of the city council for the recognition of the battalion, which was officially adopted by the City Council in December 2022,” said Salvatore.
Wednesday’s 6 p.m. ceremony will make everything “official,” including the fact that volunteer firefighters “will no longer be members of the company they came from,” Salvatore said.
Salvatore and DiMauro said they were proud of what volunteer fire company Danbury had accomplished and looked forward to the ceremony.
“The 19th Battalion and 31st Battalion have worked very hard to get to where we are today to serve the city of Danbury much more efficiently,” said DiMauro. “This is an exciting time for everyone.”
Although some people were unhappy with the consolidation, Salvatore said it was done with the best interests of the city and its residents in mind.
“Consolidation may have been bittersweet with the closure of seven individual organizations, but we have emerged as a stronger organization,” he said. “It’s a boon for the city of Danbury and everyone in the voluntary fire department, who share the same goal of serving the city and doing so willingly and with pride.”
