With dry weather, fire company remains busy with small blazes

NORTH CANAAN — The 911 call at just before 11 p.m. March 15 was dispatched as a structure fire. Canaan Fire Company (CFC) rolled all its equipment. The first truck that arrived at the converted two-story apartment house at 17 High St. (Route 7, just south of the Blackberry River bridge) was Ladder 1. Dozens of firefighters from North Canaan, Falls Village and Norfolk then converged on the scene. Lakeville Hose Co. was to have gotten a mutual aid call as well, but within minutes had a serious car accident to deal with in Lime Rock.As evacuated residents of the building watched from the parking lot behind their home, firefighters stood at the ready with hoses. But all they saw was one firefighter chopping a hole in the east side of the building, where occupants of a second-floor apartment had reported seeing smoke rising up the building’s exterior and said they smelled it inside.Fire Chief Lee Baldwin later told The Lakeville Journal one of the first firefighters on the scene also saw a small amount of smoke in the area under a fire escape. Residents had just poured a pot of water on it, apparently extinguishing a small fire between the fire escape landing and the wall behind it.“We found char marks inside the wall,” Baldwin said. “There was also smoke in the attic, which we vented. It wasn’t clear what the cause was.”Fire Marshal Daryl Byrne said an investigation revealed improperly extinguished smoking materials.“We found cigarette butts in leaves and debris in the landing under a butt can,” Byrne said. “When a cigarette is left to smolder, it burns a lot hotter. There was a scorch mark about a foot square on the outside of the building and more burn marks in the wall.”Byrne said a resident reported smelling smoke on and off for about two hours, but assumed it was someone burning outside. He should have called 911 sooner, but that pot of water probably prevented what could have spiraled into a disaster.On March 18, CFC responded to a 1:44 p.m. report of a brush fire on Deely Road, off Route 44. Baldwin said a burn permit had been issued, but not reported to Litchfield County Dispatch. The fire was reported by someone driving by, but was under control. At 2:11 p.m., CFC was just back in the firehouse when they were put on standby, and later responded to an out-of-control brush fire at 35 Undermountain Road in Falls Village.The fire index was listed as moderate, but residents were being urged by the fire marshal’s office to use extra caution under such dry conditions.