Botsford Fire Rescue Captain Mike Dziubina was getting into his truck with wife and child around 2:30 last Saturday afternoon when he heard the tone for a structure fire. Fire was erupting from a garage at 23 High Bridge Road. All five of the town's fire companies were dispatched to the location within Botsford's district.

Dziubina looked over to his wife and said, “I guess I can’t go to the store with you,” and instead drove to Botsford's fire house. He started to put on his gear and, after waiting a minute for additional firefighters to join him, he jumped into one of Botsford's fire trucks and responded to the scene.

Botsford was joined at the scene by Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, Newtown Hook & Ladder, and Sandy Hook volunteer fire companies. Stepney Fire was contacted to cover Botsford's station while those members were at the scene. Southbury was called on to cover Sandy Hook's main station. Once the fire was confirmed, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps was also dispatched, per structure fire protocol.

Dziubina was by himself with Sergeant Adam James, a Newtown Police officer. James assisted Dziubina in getting the fire hose deployed to start fighting the fire as there was heavy smoke in the area. The family at 23 High Bridge Road was safely out of their home with their dog, with no injuries to report, according to Dziubina.

“I have to thank [James] a lot, he helped me stretch the line to the garage door … [the] hose was getting caught in the bushes.” Dziubina said that he was concerned about the fire spreading to the house as the garage is semi-attached by a breezeway.

Newtown Assessor’s online database lists the dwelling as a two-story 1,690-square-foot Colonial built in 1946. The garage, also according to the database, was 576 square feet.

Steve Murphy, a deputy fire marshal and Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire chief, also responded to the fire Saturday afternoon. Murphy’s job as fire marshal is to determine possible causes of the fire and to collect evidence for those causes.

“We had a good idea of the area where it started. We tried to nail it down to the general area of where it started,” Murphy explained this week. "And then after that, we talked to the homeowner, had him visualize what’s in that area … one of the bigger clues for me, he had, in that area … batteries and chargers for his power tools … Those, unfortunately, have a history of potential problems.”

On Saturday, Murphy assisted Dziubina, who was officer-in-command at the fire, in organizing the firefighters responding from all five volunteer fire companies. The fire was knocked down in about 12 minutes and it did not spread to the house.

“My biggest concern was the garage was connected to the house,” Dziubina told The Newtown Bee. Dziubina said that Hook & Ladder Chief Ray Corbo was next on scene and continued to knock down the flames. As they worked together, Dziubina told Hook & Ladder volunteers to put some holes in the breezeway to help smoke escape and continue monitoring the potential spread, of which there was none. In total, about 40 firefighters were on scene and assisted in putting out the fire.

“[I’m sure it] doesn’t look like the most polished thing when you’re down on manpower,” Dziubina said of the homeowners. “[It is] concerning when one man steps out of the truck.”

Firefighters extinguished the fire, and then did overhaul, making sure everything was soaked down and not going to start burning again. Dziubina told The Newtown Bee between six to eight thousand gallons of water were used.

High Bridge was closed between its intersections with New Lebbon and Botsford Hill roads for most of the time firefighters were on the scene. Police were eventually able to open one lane around 3:45 pm.

The final firefighters cleared from the property around 4:20 pm.

While Dziubina is captain at Botsford, it was his first time serving as officer-in-command at a scene.

“I got a lot of help from all the other chiefs and firefighters," he noted. "They were very encouraging of me. I really appreciated that of them.”

He added that “everyone really worked together.”

Murphy added that he thinks the volunteer firefighters did a “good job putting it out.” He was happy, he added, the firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to the house.

“The volunteer fire department is important, they do good work,” Murphy said.

Newtown has five volunteer fire companies, Dziubina noted, but on March 28, he felt the companies “really functioned as one solid Newtown fire department that day.” He also extended his thanks to Southbury and Stepney fire departments for their mutual aid, as well as Newtown Volunteer Ambulance for their time on standby as they were dispatched per structure fire protocol. He did not stop his thanks there, however.

Through a chuckle, Dziubina said, “Thanks to my wife for being understanding!”

He also offered thanks to the community for coming out and supporting the fire companies at their various events.

“I would like to thank the community for their ongoing support," Dziubina said. "It’s nice to have a community that rallies behind each department.”

He added he thinks the community does not even know how much their support means to the firefighters. The funds raised "really do help them procure new equipment, intensify training, and continue to protect and serve the residents in town," he said.

Nodding to the volunteers who dedicate their time to the five companies, Dziubina said, “There’s a lot of men and women in town that are devoting a lot of time to help their community … They really care about the community, they invest a lot.”

Murphy and Dziubina both noted the strain on the volunteer system.

“We’re always looking for new members,” Murphy said.

Dziubina added, “If there’s anyone out there interested in the fire department, we could always use some help.”

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.