Danbury LEPC reviews updated hazardous‑materials plan, new alerting and exercise plans

Danbury’s Local Emergency Planning Committee met Tuesday morning to review an updated hazardous‑materials emergency plan, recent technology upgrades and preparations for a regional hazardous‑materials exercise, officials said.

Matt Casavecki, the city’s emergency management director and chair of the LEPC, opened the meeting by describing the committee’s continuing charge to plan for all hazards with a specific emphasis on chemical and hazardous‑materials incidents. “This is, I think our 3rd local emergency planning committee meeting,” he said, and noted the city had distributed an updated hazardous‑materials emergency plan developed with local responders and a subject‑matter expert.

Why it matters: The plan the committee will use as a template affects how the city coordinates first responders, hospital decontamination, public notifications and FEMA/state funding. Casavecki said the plan is tied to funding requirements and FEMA reimbursements and invited feedback from members across public safety, health care and private‑sector partners.

What officials reported - Regional exercise planning: Captain Tom Corbett briefed the group on contact with the state task force that coordinates EPRA/SERC transportation‑based drills; Danbury is tentatively in line for a region‑level drill next year and officials are considering a railroad incident scenario involving regional HAZMAT teams and state and federal partners. “We’re thinking about a railroad incident,” Corbett said, adding specifics (date, site and scale) remain under development.

- Technology to support responders: Lieutenant Gabe Rivera described the city’s 1st Due platform as a cloud‑based record‑management and preplan system that now includes parcel and hydrant data for first responders. Rivera said the system holds roughly 27,000–27,773 parcel records and provides near‑real‑time hydrant status to crews in the field.

- Public notification: The city’s alerting system, Danbury Alert (powered by Everbridge), can send life‑safety and targeted neighborhood alerts via phone, text and email; officials said the city currently has about 59,000 residents signed up and can escalate life‑threatening incidents through the state’s CT Alert reverse‑911 system.

- Hospital decontamination and supplies: Casavecki and health‑system representatives said Danbury Hospital is reassessing decontamination procedures to emphasize dry decontamination (wipes and sprays). The health coalition will deliver train‑the‑trainer instruction at month’s end to align hospital and HAZMAT team procedures.

- Logistics and equipment: Casavecki noted a multiyear grant for 17 generators is in the final administrative phase with deliverables running through 2027. Fire Chief Richard Thode described a new three‑story training tower and work on a Westside fire station intended to shorten response times; he also discussed a new shift‑commander vehicle equipped with a tethered drone for persistent aerial imaging at incidents.

Cross‑jurisdiction messaging and data sharing A participant asked whether an incident on the Danbury‑Bethel border would trigger alerts for neighboring residents. Casavecki said the city’s mass‑notification tools can be targeted and that the city coordinates with state partners to expand messaging across municipal lines when necessary. Chief Thode added that municipalities using the 1st Due platform can share access and see each other’s data during responses.

What’s next Officials said they plan a tabletop exercise ahead of any full‑scale drill to walk through EOC roles and coordination. The LEPC will circulate a summary of today’s meeting and hold quarterly meetings going forward.

(Reporting based on remarks by Matt Casavecki, Tom Corbett, Gabe Rivera, representatives of Danbury Hospital, Yuri Farrison and Richard Thode at the Danbury LEPC meeting.)