Santa's Coming to Brookfield Homes on a Fire Truck Sleigh

With all there is to do on Christmas Eve, Santa will be making some early visits to Brookfield with the assistance of the Brookfield Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD). On December 9, 10 and 11, Santa will be delivering gifts in person on a BVFD fire truck to children across town.

There are still “about a dozen” slots open for visits that weekend, according to BVFD Secretary Sara Ellis, who is organizing the fundraiser for the fire company. For a $50 donation, Brookfield’s Santa (Fire Marshal and Assistant Chief Wayne Gravius) will stop by the house for 15 minutes and hand out presents to the children.

After signing up (contact  BrookfieldSantaVisit@gmail.com), parents will receive a confirmation email or phone call to discuss where and how to leave the gifts to be picked up as Santa arrives.

“Whatever is easiest for mom and dad so that we don’t ruin the surprise,” Ellis said, however it has to be done that day to ensure that presents don’t get mixed up.

The department plans on making at least 32 stops through the weekend and so far “a lot of people are interested,” Ellis said, and she expects it will become a yearly tradition.

This will be the first year of Santa visits for the BVFD and Ellis said she got the idea from Water Witch Company in New Milford, which started the program in 2010.

Water Witch is doing visits again this year and it is on track to becoming “an every year thing,” said New Milford coordinator and firefighter David Lathrop, who is also the fire marshal in Ridgefield, where he got the idea from.

Lathrop said the visits are working well as a fundraiser for their 150^th anniversary in 2013 and the department plans on making 55 stops in two days.

“It’s nice for us to go out into the community and help the kids,” he said of the visits, noting that many are for “children going through treatment who might be locked down at the house” and cannot get out to see Santa at other local events. “It’s great to see their faces.”