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STAMFORD - In a move to improve financial and operational oversight of the city's five volunteer fire departments, the mayor plans to give control of their budgets to the city's Public Safety Department.

Previously, city funding went directly to the volunteer departments, Mayor Dannel Malloy said. Under the transfer, in the next fiscal year, the five budgets would be consolidated under the Department of Public Safety, Health and Welfare, and dispensed to each volunteer fire department at the discretion of Director William Callion, Malloy said.

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Under the city Charter, the volunteer companies are independent of the city and largely funded by taxpayers dollars.

Malloy has asked the city for $2.1 million for the upcoming fiscal year to fund the volunteer fire departments' operating expenses. He also requested $200,000 to examine whether the current fire system provides adequate citywide coverage. The budget is expected to be approved by May.

Malloy announced the transfer at an editorial board meeting at The Advocate yesterday. He said the change should improve communication between the city and the volunteer fire chiefs on staffing, training and equipment needs.

"The volunteer companies will have to maintain a relationship with the public safety director and my office," Malloy said yesterday. "The public safety director will dispense the money based on their ability to respond to our reasonable requests for information about whether volunteer firefighters are certified, how many are physically able to respond to an emergency on an average day" and other questions.

The Board of Representatives does not have to approve the change, he said.

The move follows a dismal response from the city's six fire departments to a request from the public safety department to submit information, including number of paid and volunteer firefighters, medical exams and training. Callion said he has repeatedly asked for the information, which would give the city a better understanding of how the departments operate.

As of the Feb. 27 deadline, the city has received information only from the Stamford Fire & Rescue Department, Malloy said.

"It would be hard to continue on a status quo relationship if we don't have information that tells us who's capable of responding," he said. "I'm hoping we'll reach that compliance; it's a relatively simple request."

Asked how he would get information from the volunteer companies, Malloy told The Advocate, "We need to know, and we will know - or there will be some difficulty."

Later, in a telephone interview, Malloy said the city plans to continue to work with the volunteer companies to obtain the information. He said the transfer of the budgets to the public safety department does not imply that funding could be withheld.

"It's not our intention to not fund the departments. What I'm trying to do is build a system, under the current Charter, with respect to all departments," Malloy said. "I can't imagine that the companies would not subsequently disclose that information."

Historically, the city and volunteer companies have clashed over how to staff fire departments, train firefighters and respond to calls.

Fire chiefs said they were unaware of Malloy's plan.

Turn of River Fire Chief Ray Whitbread said he could not comment immediately on the transfer. But he said he did not object to providing the city with training and staffing documentation. Whitbread said it was the city's first request and the two-week deadline was unreasonable.

Whitbread also said a letter he sent to the city asking for clarification about the purpose of submitting the documentation was never answered. He plans to submit the information to the city within the next couple of weeks, he said.

"It was never indicated what this information was for. We had never been asked for it before. It was a brand new requirement for us," Whitbread said. "I certainly don't think it's an unreasonable request, but it's a lot of information to gather in a short time."

Stamford Fire & Rescue Chief Robert McGrath said the transfer could save the city money on bargaining for fuel and equipment.

"Instead of having five or six different fuel companies providing heating oil or fuel for stations, we could bargain with one vendor," he said. "It could certainly save the city money and the taxpayers that fund the fire protection to see that they're getting the best bang for their buck."

Whitbread and McGrath said they support a study of the current fire system's coverage.

Malloy and Callion have said they hope to start the study this summer.

In the last four years, Malloy has asked the Board of Representatives twice for money to study the fire system and has been denied. The last fire study was done in 1995, he said.

"It's time for an outside entity to look at our fire services," Malloy said.

- Assistant City Editor Angela Carella contributed to this story.