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Tree Lands on Pickup Truck in New Canaan Friday, Injuring and Trapping Driver

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A tree fell amid extreme high winds Friday and fell on a pickup truck in the area of Canoe Hill Road, officials said. The incident happened around 3 p.m., according to New Canaan Fire Chief Jack Hennessey. The tree did “significant damage” to the pickup and trapped the driver in the car, according to Hennessey. Members of the New Canaan Police Department, New Canaan Fire Department and New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded and freed the trapped driver, he said. He was extricated using the jaws of life, and transported to a hospital, Hennessey said.

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New Canaan Fire Marshal: The Critical Importance of Clearly Displayed House/Street Numbers

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We have all been there – driving to an unfamiliar area and trying to find an address and there are no house/street numbers. GPS and apps like WAZE help some but, if house/street numbers are not clearly displayed you may not find your destination easily. This sounds simple but, in an emergency, it can be the difference between life and death. Put yourself in the emergency responder’s role—police, fire or EMS—and see how difficult the task becomes. Having street/house numbers clearly posted so emergency responders can easily find your home is critical and it is something that you have to do.

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In Storm’s Wake, New Canaan Firefighters Step In To Remove Ripped American Flag Tangled in Tree Downtown

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District officials spotted Old Glory straightaway, returning to their offices at Forest Street and Locust Avenue on Friday after a blustery winter storm that brought gusts of up to 50 mph to New Canaan. Those high winds had separated an American flag from its pole on the district’s leased property downtown and flung it into the upper branches of a nearby tree, where it was torn apart by more gusts, too high for district employees to reach. Cheryl Stolba, an administrative assistant to the New Canaan Public Schools’ director of finance and operations, contacted the property’s manager immediately. “I wanted to see it corrected as soon as possible, it just seemed a shame to have the flag hanging that way,” said Stolba, a longtime district employee and daughter of the late William Stolba, a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. When she heard that a veteran who worked in the office building across the street had seen the discarded flag and was saddened by the sight, “that was even more impetus for me to get someone to deal with the flag properly,” Stolba said.

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Fire Marshal: Low Temps Raise Concerns about CO Poisoning, Ash Disposal

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As the temperature drops as it has been (and appears for at least the near future) I begin to worry about a couple of things—carbon monoxide or ‘CO’ poisoning and fireplace ash disposal. With the cold weather we tend to close up our homes and our heating systems are working overtime to keep up with the demand. We also want to warm up our cars before we venture out into the cold abyss. Recently, we have talked about how improper disposal of fireplace ashes is such a big problem (firefighters just held their drawing for free ash disposal cans). However, a fire in Weston on Christmas Day destroyed a garage/barn.

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New Canaan Fire Department, Weed & Duryea Team Up for ‘Ash Disposal Bucket’ Giveaway

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New Canaanites starting now can avail themselves of a free promotion for a safety tool that experts call critical to avoiding home fires. By filling out and submitting this form—also available in person at Weed & Duryea and New Canaan Fire Department headquarters—residents can put in for one of four metal ash disposal buckets. Designed for safe disposal of hot embers and ashes from a fireplace, the buckets are “very important,” according to New Canaan firefighter Jim Pickering. “We have had, through the years, numerous fires with the misplacing of the fire ashes, either in the garbage, we have had a maid vacuum up ashes and put the vacuum in closet and the vacuum starts a fire,” Pickering told NewCanaanite.com. “And then we had the Stamford fire where the grandparents and kids passed, they say it was started because of fireplace ashes.