Storm-Related Calls Make Fire Log Inches Thick

At 4:58 p.m. Saturday, March 13, the Fire Department called all available manpower back to the firehouse to deal with the overwhelming volume of calls following a nor'easter that had whipped into town a few hours earlier. As the wind and rain snapped utility poles and yanked down power lines and transformers, in some cases igniting trees and brush, firefighters responded to more than 40 reports and as many incidents in one night as they usually do in two weeks.

Amidst all the madness in New Canaan, firefighters were dispatched to a structure fire in north Stamford at 8:34 p.m.that emergency responders there weren't sure they could get to because of roads blocked by downed trees. 

Sunday firefighters responded to 27 calls. The day was book-ended by a 6:45 a.m. structure fire at a house on Jennifer Lane where a heat from a fireplace had ignited the flooring below, and a 7:24 p.m. chimney fire at a house on East Maple Street where flames were threatening the roof. In both cases firefighters were able to put the fires out quickly enough to limit the damage to the rooms or origin.

Once the storm was over, the department scaled back to normal staffing Sunday with additional help from volunteer members, but was by then dealing with a backlog of "water problem" calls as power outages kept sump pumps from working in flooded basements. At 5:50 p.m. Sunday, a resident of Deer Park Road reported that eight feet of water in her basement had submerged the furnace and hot-water heater.

Carbon monoxide alarms sounded as people without power resorted to back-up generators and fumes got into houses. At 1:40 a.m. Wednesday firefighters responded to house where a 44-year-old woman and her six-month-old twins were showing signs of CO poisoning (a man and two older children there were thankfully still feeling fine). Firefighters metered CO levels over 600 ppm—more than 12 times what OSHA considers permissible workplace exposure.

Through Wednesday, while the power was still out in much of New Canaan, dying back-up batteries set off a string of false alarms. Other false alarms were prompted by systems being switched back on as power returned. The total call count was 13 Monday, 16 Tuesday, nine Wednesday.

By Thursday things were back to normal, with firefighters responding to just four calls; they got only one Friday.