Newtown’s first responders have always been ready to answer calls for help, and 2022 kept police officers, firefighters, search and rescue divers, and emergency medical personnel busy with myriad calls for help.

One of the first fires of the year that pulled members of all five local companies — Botsford, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, Newtown Hook & Ladder and Sandy Hook — to a scene for help happened shortly after midnight January 10. Neighbors called 911 when they saw what they thought was a forest fire. It turned out a corner of their neighbor’s home was burning after discarded ashes put outdoors in a plastic can reignited.

It took less than 20 minutes to douse the fire, which served as a teaching moment for Fire Marshal Richard Frampton. The town official quickly reminded all residents that metal buckets should always be used to hold ashes, and that containers should be placed at least ten feet away from any building.

Local Fires, Including Arson

Whether from the days of operation as McGuire’s Ale House, Hot Shots II/Hot Shots Grille, or any other iteration of restaurants at 130 Mt Pleasant Road, all memories made at the popular and long-vacant Hawleyville establishment literally went up in smoke after a fire destroyed the building. Newtown’s fire companies were dispatched around 9:30 am January 14 to the hilltop building at the corner of Mt Pleasant and Hawleyville roads after passersby began calling 911 to report a fire. Arriving first, Newtown police officers confirmed a fire. Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company Chief Don Digioia, who arrived right behind police officers, said the fire was well underway by then. Within short order the building was destroyed. A cause was not determined.

A Mt Pleasant Road home received heavy damage on February 20 after a chimney fire spread into surrounding areas and sent two workmen outdoors. Two workmen reportedly lit a fire in the vacant home, while doing work on the premises. Fire officials believe a chimney fire transferred out of the flue and quickly spread, damaging the second floor and roof of the two-story Cape style dwelling at 40 Mt Pleasant Road. Firefighters from all five local companies responded, as did mutual aid companies.

There were no injuries, and the house was not destroyed, according to fire officials. The home was vacant, with work being done ahead of a possible resale, The Newtown Bee was told.

Also in February, Hook & Ladder firefighters responded to a fire at Newtown Community Center that turned out to be arson. The fire damaged an exterior bathroom on February 27, causing an estimated $30,000 in damage to the Town-owned building. Initially dispatched as “odor of smoke in the building,” the February call ultimately pulled in responses from all five fire companies once smoke started showing and the call was upgraded to a structure fire. Newtown Hook & Ladder and Sandy Hook sent a combined 13 firefighters to the scene, with other companies standing by at their stations.

Three months later Newtown Police arrested Newtown resident George Ferris, 26, a former community center employee, following an investigation. Ferris was charged with first-degree arson and first-degree criminal mischief. Ferris pled not guilty to the two felony charges, and is awaiting his next pretrial appearance on January 11.

A fire that started in a parked van on May 24 destroyed the van, a small shed, a barn, and part of the antique home at 55 Main Street, but did not injure any of the home’s occupants. Approximately 24 firefighters, representing all five fire companies, responded to Main Street after the first call for help was sounded around 5 am. The fire was quickly knocked down, and the investigation quickly located an area within the van that was the source of the blaze.

A home on Head O’Meadow Road was destroyed by fire on July 4. Approximately 40 firefighters responded to that scene, but found a fire well involved upon arrival around 11 pm. All of the home’s occupants were safely out of the dwelling, located at the end of a dead-end road off Castle Hill Road.

All five of the town’s fire companies were called on for a pair of structure fires within a week’s time in November. An outbuilding on New Lebbon Road used to store construction materials, with no connected utilities, was destroyed on November 18. The building was on property set well back from the road, and the fire was discovered when a neighbor saw the outbuilding on fire.

On November 23, all companies responded to a Ferris Road residence after embers from soldering got onto a wall. The embers burned through to the exterior of the home and then up the exterior wall, before firefighters could arrive at the scene. Damage was limited and the homeowner was able to stay in the home after the fire was extinguished.

Two days before Christmas, a family cat perished after it was caught in heavy smoke inside a residence. A home on Boggs Hill Road was one of dozens of locations first responders were sent to during the December 22-23 overnight, when a wind and rain storm moved through the area. Firefighters were sent to Boggs Hill Road, within Dodgingtown Fire’s district, after an electrical fire started in the basement of a home there. Firefighters were able to quickly out the fire, but not before the cat perished.

NUSAR At Work

Among the high profile calls for Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue was a pair in early summer.

NUSAR was part of the search effort for Larry Kwokpo Chan, 24, of Bristol, who drowned in the Brookfield Bay area of Candlewood Lake after reportedly jumping into the water from an unmoving pontoon boat on May 29. Divers found his body June 16.

The dive team’s assistance was again requested later that month in Sherman after a 20-year-old from Bridgeport went missing while swimming in another section of Candlewood Lake. The body of Denis Junio Rodrigues was recovered on June 28, 4½ days after he was last seen.

Pair Of Fatal Crashes

Newtown Police Department and other local first responders responded to two separate fatal motorcycle crashes within a week of each other.

At approximately 11 pm Friday, June 24, a motorcycle being operated by Ryan Smith, 24, of Enfield, went off Riverside Road. Smith died at the scene.

Then around 5 pm June 25, a car vs motorcycle crash on Sugar Street near Dodgingtown Road claimed the life of Harvey Lopez, 25, of New Haven.

Forest Calls

Forest rescue training was also put to work this year.

The first, unfortunately, was not successful for first responders who were sent into the Upper Paugussett State Forest on March 23 after a male had a heart attack. Brookfield Police were first to respond to a cell phone call from someone with the patient, after the call went to the dispatch center in that town.

Sandy Hook and Botsford firefighters, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance, a paramedic and local police officers were then sent to the Lower Paugussett State Forest, before it was determined that the call was coming from the Upper Paugussett. That led to Hook & Ladder and Hawleyville firefighters responding. When Newtown first responders located the patient, a Brookfield PD officer was doing CPR. The patient was shocked with a defibrillator, but was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Months later, first responders responded to Orchard Hill Preserve, where a 45-year-old male had fallen into a ravine there. A family hiking the afternoon of July 24 encountered the man, who was reportedly struggling to keep their head above water after falling, and called for help.

Botsford and Sandy Hook firefighters, Newtown Police and Newtown ambulance personnel were able to quickly locate and rescue the man.

Firefighters responded to multiple brush fires during the summer. With Fairfield County listed at Extreme by the CT DEEP Forest Fire Control Office on September 1, and six of the state’s seven remaining counties at High drought levels, Newtown Fire Marshal Rich Frampton canceled burn permits and urged residents to use extreme caution with any outdoor fires. The state saw very little rain from late spring through early autumn.

An Unusual Call

Local first responders were dispatched to an unusual call on September 30, when a lightweight plane needed to land on Lake Lillinonah. Fortunately the call had a fairly quick and very good ending. The male pilot of a fixed wing single-engine Icon Aircraft A5 — an amphibious light-sport aircraft — had not planned ahead and ran low on fuel.

He was able to safely land near the town boat launch at the end of Hanover Road, where Hook & Ladder firefighters were waiting. After receiving a supply of fuel, the pilot and his female passenger were back in the air, heading toward Danbury Airport to answer for the unexpected detour.

Wrong-Way Crash, Oil Truck Rollover

Newtown became part of a growing statewide concern on October 31, when it became the latest municipality to report a head-on collision on a limited access highway. Hawleyville and Newtown Hook & Ladder fire companies, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Nuvance Ambulance Services and Connecticut State Police troopers all responded to I-84 East, approximately one-quarter of a mile west of the Exit 9 off-ramp, shortly after 2 am Monday, October 31, for a two-vehicle crash.

A 41-year-old female from Danbury had entered the highway in Hawleyville, traveling west in the eastbound lanes, and crashed her 2012 GMC Terrain into a 2022 Freightliner tractor-trailer truck being operated by a 43-year-old male from New York. Neither driver went to the hospital, but the female, Crystal Smith, failed field sobriety tests and was transferred to Troop A in Southbury. Smith was charged with operating under the influence, reckless endangerment-second, and driving the wrong way on a highway.

A few hours later, Botsford Fire Rescue, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, local police, and DEEP all responded to New Lebbon Road after a 41-year-old man rolled the oil truck he was operating there. Daniel Irizarry of Naugatuck lost control of the vehicle on a turn, struck a utility pole, and then the truck rolled onto its driver’s side. Irizarry was able to self-extricate without injury.

At least a few hundred gallons of home heating oil spilled from the truck before the leak was contained, which led to longtime soil testing in the area.

The above are just some of the emergencies local first responders covered during the past 12 months. Countless others are not included here due to space and privacy considerations.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.