Around Town

Safety Hazard To Be Fixed at New Canaan Firehouse

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved the preparation of construction documents to eliminate what officials call a major safety hazard at the firehouse. The designs will be created by Architectural Preservation Studio, a New York City-based firm with an office in New Canaan, and will arrange for a fall protection system for the current hose drying tower for $3,800, which is within the department’s budget, officials said at the June 14 selectmen meeting. The hose drying tower is a shaft that reaches nearly 2.5 stories in the back of the firehouse on Main Street. When the hoses are used, a firefighter must be at the top of the shaft making sure that they are in line, and there is no solid protection there, according to First Selectman Rob Mallozzi (a volunteer firefighter from 2004 to 2009 who also had served as secretary of New Canaan Fire Company No.1). _______________________________________________

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News

Tractor-Trailer Snags Overhead Wires at Weed and Elm; Traffic Detoured Around Intersection

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Update 8 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8

Crews are working on the power lines Wednesday morning, police said, and could have the intersection reopened at 10 or 11 a.m.

Original Article

Officials closed Weed Street between Frogtown and Wahackme Roads early Tuesday afternoon after a tractor-trailer snagged low-hanging overhead wires. Elm Street also was closed to traffic east of Hatfield Mews, as police and firefighters waited for the power company to arrive, officials at the scene said. Though no Eversource customers in New Canaan appeared to have lost power because of the incident, “I would tend to think that when they get here, they will have to shut down power in the area” in order to get the wires back up, Fire Chief Jack Hennessey said. Emergency responders responded to the incident at a bout 12:23 p.m. No one was hurt and no other vehicles were involved. “When it is really hot, the wires tend to droop because they get hot,” Hennessey said at members of the New Canaan Police Department set up barriers to traffic along Weed and Elm Streets.

News

Brush Fire Ignites on Parish Road South on Wednesday; Fire Chief: No Fire Pits, Outdoor Burning

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Officials are urging town residents to hold off on using fire pits or doing any other outdoor burning, following a Parish Road brush fire on Wednesday afternoon—the second in two days. Firefighters at about 2 p.m. responded to a report of a brush fire at 149 Parish Road South—a fire that consumed an Entire woodpile and approximately 20-by-30-foot landscaped area that had mulch, according to New Canaan Fire Chief Jack Hennessey. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire, he said, though extremely dry conditions have elevated the likelihood and danger of brush fires. “We put a lot of water down and the ground was considerably drier than we thought when we left—it just absorbed all the water, kind of surprising,” Hennessey said. New Canaan, together with the rest of Fairfield County and surrounding areas, remains under a “red flag warning” from the National Weather Service, meaning fires are expected to spread rapidly following ignition.

News

‘We Got Very Lucky’: Firefighters Contain, Extinguish Canoe Hill Road Brush Fire [PHOTOS]

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Firefighters put out a brush fire in a heavily wooded area off of Canoe Hill Road around midday Tuesday that started after a dead tree fell onto power lines. A primary power line broke under the weight of the tree and fell among dry leaves and brush on the ground in the area of 337 Canoe Hill Road, igniting a fire that likely would have spread very quickly if not for the vigilance of a neighbor who alerted emergency responders immediately, according to New Canaan Fire Chief Jack Hennessey. Firefighters arrived on scene with Engine 1 and Tanker 8 and contained the fire after receiving the call at about 11:39 a.m.—they had to wait for Eversource to arrive and shut down the power line prior to extinguishing it. “That is a primary wire and still energized so we cannot get close to it and we especially can’t shoot water on it,” Hennessey said, pointing at the area where the fire started, still aflame. “So we have to wait till they [Eversource officials] come in and shut off the power and then we can mop up and put the rest of the fire out.”

New Canaan Police shut down Canoe Hill Road between Ludlowe and Ferris Hill Roads while firefighters kept a close eye on the brush fire.

Animal 411

PHOTO: Rarely Seen Bald Eagles Scavenge Deer Carcass on Frozen Reservoir off of Ponus Ridge

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Officials called to the Laurel Reservoir early Thursday on a report of a deer stuck on the ice came upon an unusual and rather gruesome scene: Two adult bald eagles picking at the dead mammal, it’s entrails spilled on the frozen water. A resident reported that the deer was alive as of early morning—the animal rescue call came in at 7:39 a.m.—and both New Canaan firefighters and NCPD Animal Control officials responded “as quickly as we could,” Officer Allyson Halm said. “It was already deceased” by the time they arrived at the reservoir off of upper Ponus Ridge, she said, “and the eagles were already having breakfast.”

According to Halm, a passerby who lives in the neighborhood told officials that the two eagles live in the area. A species unique to North America—the reason it was selected in 1782 by the Second Continental Congress as the national emblem—bald eagles mainly eat fish though they’ll also scavenge any edible mammal, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The Laurel Reservoir in New Canaan was created in 1923 to ensure Stamford’s water supply.