Fire Truck Accident

During a period of freezing rain on the morning of Wednesday, March 5, a Sandy Hook fire truck traveling on a mutual aid call to Southbury was involved in an accident on an icy Glen Road, police report.

Sandy Hook firefighter Michael Burton, who was driving fire pumper #441 northward on Glen Road, about 1,000 feet south of its intersection with Cherry Street, spotted a motorist up ahead on the road whose auto had skidded and had become disabled in the icy conditions, police said.

The unidentified motorist was waving off the approaching fire truck to prevent a collision, and Burton applied the fire truck’s brakes and the fire truck went into a skid on the icy road, police said.

The fire truck came to rest perpendicularly across Glen Road, with its rear end wedged against metal guardrailing along the southbound road shoulder, damaging the rear step of the fire truck.

The fire truck and the auto did not collide in the mishap, and there were no injuries, police said.

Following the 6:49 am accident, police closed the icy Glen Road for more than two hours until conditions improved and it became safe to travel there again.

Before the mishap, the fire truck had been heading to Southbury on a mutual aid call to assist Southbury firefighters, who were then handling a major hazardous materials accident on an icy Interstate 84.

DUI Charge

After learning that police held a warrant for his arrest, Adam D. Gruendig, 21, of 6 Plumtrees Road, turned himself over to police on March 11 and was charged with driving under the influence.

About 1 am on February 5, Gruendig, who was driving a 1995 Volkswagen Jetta southward on Taunton Lane, lost control of the sedan, hit a snowbank, rolled over, struck a rock, and then hit two trees, with auto coming to rest on its passenger side, police reported. After that crash, Newtown ambulance staffers transported Gruendig to Danbury Hospital for treatment of injuries, according to police.

On March 11, Gruendig posted a $100 bond and was released for a March 27 appearance in Danbury Superior Court to answer the charge, police said.