Nine years after losing one of its own, the Watertown Fire Department paid honored to Firefighter Joe Toscano just down the street from where he lost his life. The annual event held at the time of his passing brings together members of the WFD, Toscano’s family, and others who remember the tragic day.
Toscano, a father of five and 21 year veteran of the Fire Department, died while fighting a fire in East Watertown on March 17, 2017. On Tuesday, dozens of firefighters lined up to salute at Toscano Square, on Bigelow Avenue, just down the street from the home on Merrifield Avenue where the fire occurred.
“What you see today, we’ve had, probably, I’d say almost every year,” said Assistant Fire Chief Bill Maietta.
He still remembers the day that Toscano died, even though he wasn’t on duty.
“It’s funny, it happens all of a sudden, you know? Because it’s all over the news, all of the sudden your family starts calling because they know you work in Watertown,” Maietta said. “It was hard for everyone, especially the guys that were working that day.”
One person on duty that day was former Fire Chief Bob Quinn, who was a Deputy Chief at the time and was the incident commander during the fire. On Tuesday, he was joined by his grandson, Quinn, who sat in a stroller as they watched the ceremony from across the street.
“This was probably the toughest day, personally, in my career, as an incident commander to have someone die in a fire. It is still hard to believe it happened, but it did,” Quinn said. “It’s very important for me to be here. Whenever I’m in Watertown I visit this place.”
Quinn said he is glad that the Fire Department still pays tribute to Toscano.
“There’s a lot of guys that were in there, that were at that fire,” Quinn said. “I think it’s important for them to be here, or because they knew Joe. He’s not forgotten. I’m happy about that.”
The Fire Department has also tried to support Toscano’s family in the years since his passing. Members of the WFD have been at important days for his children. In August, 2025, Quinn attended Pat Toscano’s graduation from the Boston Fire Academy.
“I pinned his badge at his graduation,” Quinn said. “I was honored by him asking me to do that.”
Pat, Toscano’s second oldest child, attended the ceremony Tuesday with his family.
“It’s a good way to honor him,” said Pat, who was 18 when his father died.
Growing up as the son of a firefighter, Pat said they would talk about what it is like to be a firefighter. He decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“It’s always been a dream, definitely,” he said.
He has been assigned to Engine 21 in Dorchester, which he said has been a good place to learn on the job.
“It’s been busy, definitely busy,” Pat said. “But it’s cool. I definitely learned a lot. There’s a lot of good guys teaching me a lot of good things.”