Government

Smoke Billows from Top of Town Hall Saturday As Officials ‘Burn the Furnace’

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Town Hall smoke-Feb 13 2016
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2016-02-13. Smoke billowed from the roof of Town Hall Saturday morning and lingered downtown for part of the day, as officials worked to repair the furnace problem that appears to be sending exhaust back into the public building—to the point where the structure had to be closed for nearly all of Tuesday. Asked about the smoke, fire officials said that those in charge of Town Hall decided to “burn the furnace” in order to clear it out. In other words, Fire Capt. John Raidt said, there may have been an oil deposit inside the furnace and so workers ignited it in order to clear it off. There is a “very minimal hazard of fire,” so firefighters were standing by, Raidt said.

News

‘These Gentlemen Saved My Life’: Eight New Canaan Firefighters Honored for Oct. 30 Heroics

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Michael Bivona, Jr. had been on his way to visit an uncle in Wilton on Oct. 30, when at about 5:35 p.m. he was struck head-on on Silvermine Road. The 18-year-old remembers nothing of the horrific four-car crash, knowing only that he would have died had it not been for a difficult, careful extrication led by eight New Canaan firefighters. Until Tuesday night, he’d never met them. “It’s a miracle that I am here and I can’t thank them enough,” Bivona, Jr. said during a moving ceremony at Lapham Community Center attended by about 100 people, where the firefighters received a unit citation for their life-saving actions.