The Exchange Club of Danbury has honored their 2014 Danbury Firefighter of the Year.  The award was presented to Gabe Rivera last night.  Committee chairman Joe DaSilva says Rivera has worked as a firefighter and trained as an apparatus operator.

Fire Department spokesman Steven Rogers says when the need arose, Rivera transferred into the Dispatch Center as an Emergency Telecommunicator.

Rivera was raised in the Bronx, Pound Ridge and Bedford, New York.  After High School in 1995, he joined the United States Marine Corps, serving in Signal Intelligence in places such as Italy, Spain and Turkey, assisting with the enforcement of the No-Fly Zone in Northern Iraq.  Prior to his work in Danbury, Rivera joined the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department in 2000.  He served administratively as President of the Department, and operationally as a Captain.  He also served as a project manager for building a new Mahopac Fire Headquarters at a cost of $5.7 million. 

He still volunteers with the Mahopac Department.

Rivera was instrumental in assisting the department in the implementation of three new software platforms, as well as preparing the department in its transition to a consolidation dispatch center at the police department.

The awards banquet was held at Anthony's Lake Club.