News

New Canaan Fire Co. Practices Water Rescue Drills at Mead Pond

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New Canaan firefighters on Saturday practiced water rescues at Mead Park, rehearsing drills that save the lives of people, pets and wildlife. Firefighters execute water rescues from one to five times per year, according to Russ Kimes III, assistant chief of the New Canaan Fire Company No. 1. “Obviously, New Canaan has a fair number of bodies of water,” Kimes told NewCanaanite.com. “We ended up getting called out just after doing that drill,” he added.

News

New Canaan Fire Marshal: Exit Drills In The Home or ‘E.D.I.T.H.’

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Home fires can become a disaster if you and your family are not familiar with how to escape during an emergency. 

To design a fire escape plan, sketch the floor plan of your home, indicate on the plan doors and windows from which you can escape from each room. Designate a meeting place outside of the home where family members should meet once they have safely escaped. Practice your fire escape plan, regular exit drills in the home will allow you to test the plan and make adjustments as needed. Make sure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Smoke detectors should be installed in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level.

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PHOTOS: Car Crashes through Rail, into Dumpster at Transfer Station [UPDATED]

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[Note: This article has been updated with new information from New Canaan Police.]

A motorist on Wednesday afternoon crashed through a rail at the Transfer Station, plunging a vehicle headfirst into a garbage dumpster several feet below. No one was injured in the crash at the Lakeview Avenue facility, according to New Canaan Police Lt. Jason Ferraro, the department’s public information officer. Police, fire and EMTs rushed to the Transfer Station at about 12:18 p.m. on a report of the accident. 

There, two individuals could be seen in the front seats of a gray Chevrolet Caprice Classic whose front end was nosed at about a 45-degree angle into a partially filled dumpster that’s used for residents to drop off their household garbage. 

“Initial reports indicate that the operator mistakenly pushed the accelerator rather than the brake and his vehicle drove over the curbing and sidewalk through the fence at the top of the transfer station platform,” Ferraro said in an email “As a result the vehicle’s front end fell into the container that is used to collect garbage.” Several members of New Canaan Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services cordoned off the area while firefighters secured the vehicle and worked to extract its two occupants safely. The crash remains under investigation, Ferraro said.

Government

Selectmen Approve $500,000 for New Fire Rescue Truck

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a $500,000 contract with a Watertown-based company to build a new rescue truck for the New Canaan Fire Department. 

Bid proposals that came in for the new truck ranged higher than the budgeted half million dollar figure, so the department removed about $41,000 in modifications to the vehicle—some of which it hopes to re-add in the future, according to Fire Chief Jack Hennessey. 

“Everything we cut out we thought we needed,” including a 360-degree camera, Hennessey said during the selectmen’s regular meeting, held Jan. 7 at Town Hall. “But we needed to make our number so we had to delete things. That was a lower-priority thing so we had to take as much stuff truck off of the truck as we could. There might be money in future budgets in other lines that we might be able to put some of these things back in.

In Wake of Three Structure Fires in New Canaan, Local Fire Marshal Issues Safety Tips

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Recently, New Canaan has suffered three major structure fires with two of them related to fireplace use. The cause of the third fire was not able to be definitively determined. There was also a small brush fire caused by dumping of fireplace ashes that caused no damage (fortunately). Several residents have called regarding concerns for their fireplaces. Following are some fireplace safety tips to help keep us safe as we move into the fireplace season:

Depending on amount and type of use, chimneys should be cleaned and inspected by certified chimney cleaners at least every few years – more often if used extensively or if wood stoves are used.  Older chimneys may require video inspection to check for cracked flue liners and loose mortar.