News

PHOTOS: Firefighters Respond to Upper-Story Fire at River Street Home on Friday Afternoon

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New Canaan firefighters on Friday afternoon responded to a structure fire in the upper story of a River Street duplex. Smoke wafted from an attic ventilation grate and opened window of the fire at 6 River St., the northern half of a duplex at the corner of Brushy Ridge Road. An occupant of the 1970-built duplex phoned 9-1-1 at about 1:46 p.m. to report the fire, according to officials on scene. No one was hurt and it wasn’t immediately clear what started the fire, officials said. In addition to the New Canaan Fire Department, New Canaan Police Department and New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps, responding units include those from the Wilton, Norwalk and Vista, N.Y.

Firefighters arriving on scene saw smoke pushing out of what was discovered to be a very small attic space at the home, which tax records show to have hardwood floors and a wood shingle exterior.

News

Fire Department Vehicle Gets Stuck in Un-Cleared Driveway During Response Late Monday

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A New Canaan Fire Department vehicle while responding to a call on Monday night became stuck in a long, shared driveway on Mill Road that had not been cleared since a recent winter storm, officials said. Because the first NCFD engine became stuck in the driveway at 208 Mill Road—just over the Wilton town line—additional apparatus could not reach the home, according to New Canaan Fire Marshal Fred Baker. “Firefighters had to hand carry gear and equipment and water fire extinguishers to the scene,” Baker said. “Fortunately the fire was very small and firefighters were able to extinguish using portable water fire extinguishers and a garden hose.”

No one was injured. The call came in at 10:06 p.m. from a homeowner alerted by smoke alarms and smoke, according to the fire marshal.

News

MAP: New Canaan Fire Department’s ‘Dry Hydrant’ Needs

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Town officials are calling on residents to check whether they’re located on streets that would benefit from a “dry hydrant,” following a garage fire in eastern New Canaan where the main house would have been jeopardized were the apparatus not installed. In the end, firefighters were able to control the Dec. 30 Cheese Spring Road blaze with tankers from the New Canaan Fire Department and surrounding towns. “But God forbid that fire had spread beyond the garage to the main body of the house,” Fire Marshal Fred Baker said. “Then we really would have needed a lot more water.”

And it was available (through about 3,000 feet of large-diameter hose) because a nearby Cheese Spring Road property had a dry hydrant—a pipe that typically runs from a source such as a lake or pond onto dry land and allows firefighters to pump out water.

News

PHOTOS: Two-Alarm Fire on Cheese Spring Road Friday Afternoon Engulfs Garage Roof [UPDATED]

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Firefighters on Friday afternoon rushed to an eastern New Canaan residence to control a fire that fully engulfed the roof of a garage attached to a wood shingle home. No one was injured in the two-alarm Cheese Spring Road fire that came in at about 12:40 p.m., according to New Canaan Fire Department Assistant Chief Russ Kimes. “On arrival we found the garage roof was fully involved and our units began attacking it there,” Kimes told NewCanaanite.com from the scene at 610 Cheese Spring Road, a home set back at the end of a long driveway near the street’s intersection with Benedict Hill Road and the Wilton town line. “We were able to contain it and protect the rest of the structure.”

The homeowners were home at the time of the fire, and they exited quickly with their two children and dog, according to Fire Marshal Fred Baker. It appears to have started with fireplace ashes placed in trash cans outside the garage, according to Baker.

Around Town

Top-10 Stories of 2016

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Here’s a big ‘Thank you’ to our loyal readers and fabulous advertisers—you are absolutely the best—for delivering a wonderful 2016 here at the New Canaanite. In NewCanaanite.com’s second full year, traffic on the news site increased 19.8 percent, to nearly 1.3 million pageviews. The top-10 most-read articles from 2016, listed below, reflect the town’s wide-ranging interests and point to a burgeoning and popular category of news that revolves around breaches of civility. Hopefully, the list also reflects our own steadily re-examined and refined coverage plan. As we’ve said since launching Jan.