News

New Canaan Firefighter Harry Russell Sworn In at Town Hall Ceremony

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Harry Russell had been working in his family’s construction firm in England for five years when, in 2019, he immigrated to the United States. 

One year later, in September 2020, he joined the volunteer New Canaan Fire Company No. 1—an experience that would change his life. It was seeing what the job demands and what’s involved that made the Wilton resident want to become a career firefighter in New Canaan. “I realized that some of my previous skills in construction would apply very well to it,” Russell told NewCanaanite.com Tuesday evening from the main lobby at Town Hall, moments after being sworn in as a firefighter by Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “Not only that but also getting to know the town and the people really created that drive where I want to help as much as I can and contribute to the town in any way possible,” Russell said.

Albe Bassett

‘This Is Not a Best Practice’: Fire Commission Pushes Back on Removal of Funding for Assistant Chief

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Saying it’s a matter of public safety, members of the municipal body that oversees the New Canaan Fire Department are calling for the town to re-add funding for an assistant chief position in the agency. The Board of Selectmen following a back-and-forth with Fire Chief Albe Bassett removed a request for $121,000 in salary for the full-time assistant chief position in January, during the first major phase of the fiscal year 2025 budget process. (The job would also come with a benefits package that town Human Resources officials put at about 40% of the salary.)

After Bassett submitted a memo to the Board of Selectmen saying he could try to make do with $71,000 in overtime that would go to line officers in lieu of the full-time assistant chief, the selectmen did add a $50,000 overtime line item to the Fire Department’s budget (which still must be approved by the Board of Finance and Town Council). In the memo, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request, Bassett listed five duties that cannot be filled by line officers “on a 24/7 basis.” They include representing the chief as needed, supervising the other line officers, HR functions such as negotiations, budget-related work and fire marshal duties. Members of the Fire Commission during a special meeting held Feb.

Albe Bassett

Fire Department Eyes Improved Rescue Capabilities After Contractor’s Death on Valley Road

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New Canaan’s fire chief said last week that the recent death of a contractor doing excavation work on Valley Road has the department looking again at its rescue capabilities. 

Though the department was at the job site at Silver Hill Hospital on Friday, Dec. 22 and pulled the man out in 15 minutes following a trench collapse, he perished from internal wounds sustained at the time of the accident, according to Fire Chief Albe Bassett. The man “happened to be working on a fire protection line for one of their [the hospital’s] buildings which they—unfortunately—they can’t shut it off, so they were doing an emergency repair and the worker was struck and trapped by dirt inside the hole, about 12 feet down,” Bassett said during a special budget-related meeting of the Fire Commission, held Feb. 8 via videoconference. That’s “a very challenging rescue for any fire service, but for us with lack of equipment and staffing it was much more difficult,” the fire chief said.

Fire Commission

‘It’s Just Been Chronic’: Park Street Condos Hire Environmental Consultant

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A condominium association on Park Street has hired environmental consultants to help figure out what’s causing an odor and fumes rising from catch basins and drains outside the complex, officials say. 

Emergency responders first visited the Park Mead Condominiums in mid-October following a report of an odor in the building, according to Fire Marshal Paul Payne. “After some searching I noticed a fairly strong odor of what I thought to be a solvent of some sort coming from this catch basin,” Payne told NewCanaanite.com in response to a request for information. “Noting the white staining on the grates, it seemed a painter cleaned his painting equipment and dumped it in the catch basin. After several weeks of the odor continuing, even after heavy rain events, the association hired an environmental consultant to try to get to the bottom of this. They are currently in the investigation stage.”

The 1956-built Park Mead development includes 46 units.

Albe Bassett

NCHS Sophomore Earns Fire Department’s ‘Community Hero Award’

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Marlena Ericsson, 15, was walking home from Youth Group at the Congregational Church of New Canaan on a Tuesday afternoon in late October when she spotted an elderly woman on Heritage Hill Road. It had started to rain and “you could tell she wasn’t able to walk,” Ericsson, a New Canaan High School sophomore, recalled during a Fire Commission meeting held Tuesday night at the firehouse. 

“She reminded me of my grandma, who is 101,” Ericsson told NewCanaanite.com. “So I kind of wanted to help more than anything else.”

She did. The teen brought the woman into the nearby firehouse and waited for the Police Department to come and bring her back home safely, according to Fire Chief Albe Bassett. “Marlena was able to bring her to the firehouse and get her help,” Bassett said while presenting Ericsson with the department’s Community Hero Award.