The Water Witch Company # 2 in New Milford received over $130K in FEMA funding to install a vehicle exhaust removal system in the fire house.

NEW MILFORD – Aided by over $130,000 in federal funding, Water Witch Company #2 in town will now be able to install smoke remediation equipment in the fire house to protect its firefighters’ health.

“The biggest benefit is for the health and safety for our firefighters and the general public in the firehouse,” said Water Witch Company's President David  Golembeski of the equipment, “because it takes the fumes from the vehicles and exhausts them outside the building so they’re not lingering."

Golembeski said the company submitted a grant application for smoke remediation equipment to the state the end of last year, applying for a total of $145,000. 

It received $131,818 in FEMA funding for the vehicle exhaust removal system. It will now be raising the balance on its own. The matching funds will come from various sources, including the company’s fundraising efforts and possibly a bit from their budget.

Golembeski said the company received many grants over the years through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, which helps firefighters and other first responders obtain critically needed resources to protect both the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards.

On top of being the company’s president for the last two years and working as a third-generation firefighter and volunteer since 2008, Golembeski has submitted grant applications to benefit Water Witch Company # 2.

Around 2016, he was sent down to Baltimore, M.D., to serve on a peer revenue panel to learn more about what needed to be included on grant applications. He has since helped neighboring fire departments with their grant applications, seeing as “everybody is in the same boat," he said.

About eight years ago, Water Witch Company # 2 partnered with the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Company on a joint grant application for self-contained breathing apparatus for the firefighters. Water Witch Company # 2 has also previously applied for and received federal funding for breathing air compression systems and to purchase a new fire truck.

Second Assistant Chief Sean Delaney said the company’s been focusing on cancer remediation over the last couple of years. He said the town of New Milford recently funded a brand new washer and dryer for the company’s headquarters so that the firefighters can wash and extract cancer-causing agents from their gear.

Located at 8 Prospect Hill Road in New Milford, Water Witch Company #2 is one of three volunteer fire departments – including the Northville Volunteer Fire Department and the Gaylordsville Volunteer Fire Department – that serve the town of New Milford. 

“All of these fire departments have a long history of being volunteer,” said New Milford Pete Bass, “and the town can’t thank them enough for all their work that they have done to make sure our town is safe.”

Bass also mentioned the Water Witch Fire Company # 2 is its own private nonprofit organization.

To date, Delaney stated the Water Witch Company # 2 has 65 responding members and around 110 members that, while “inactive on the call side,” attend company meetings and help the company with fundraisers. 

Along with responding to mutual aid calls throughout the area, Delaney said the company organizes its annual Santa Express where company members bring presents on the fire trucks to local children. Water Witch Company # 2 also organizes fund drives, annual BBQs and smaller fundraisers to support the company’s operations.