Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.
canaan fire company

Firefighters upgrade equipment thanks to hefty donation

Firefighters upgrade equipment thanks to hefty donation

Assistant Chief Pat McGuire and Captain Ryan Foley with Canaan Fire Company’s new battery-powered extrication tools.

Riley Klein

NORTH CANAAN — Canaan Fire Company purchased new extrication tools thanks to Ben Wolhfert’s generosity.

Wolhfert donated $15,000 to the volunteer fire crew in 2023. Months of diligent research and multiple product demos later, the firehouse has upgraded equipment.

Chief Mike Foley, Assistant Chief Pat McGuire, and Captain Ryan Foley stopped by Wolhfert’s home on Tuesday, May 14, to thank him for the contribution.

The new battery-powered tools are made by Holmatro and serve a critical, often life-saving purpose for rescue teams. Otherwise known as the jaws of life, extrication tools are used to cut, pry and spread open metal surfaces, most commonly in car wrecks.

The two tools work together with one operating as the “cutter” and the other as the “spreader.” Captain Foley said the ease of use with the new models offers “really quick deployment” when responding to emergencies.

“It’s replacing a portable hydraulic pump with hoses, and actually these have more cutting and spreading power,” he said.

“It’s amazing how much faster they are, and obviously more powerful,” said Assistant Chief McGuire, adding that “the battery on them lasts approximately 45 minutes” while in use.

A former member of the Canaan Fire Company from 1989 to 1994, Wolhfert was excited to see the new tools when the firefighters came by his house. The tool being replaced was in operation when Wolhfert was on the crew.

“Holy $#!& these things have changed,” remarked Wolhfert. “I’m so happy I got that for you guys. Those are gonna save some lives.”

Wohlfert said he spent a lot of time at the firehouse as a child when his father was on the crew. His grandfather was assistant chief of Canaan Fire Co. in the 1970s, so firefighting runs in the family.

He said the inspiration to donate funds for new extrication tools came from an early memory he has. As a young child, he witnessed the jaws of life used in Torrington to save someone from a car crash.

“It just stuck in my mind,” said Wolhfert. “It’s incredible.”

Chief Foley noted it has been decades since the company received a donation of this size from an individual. Without Wolhfert’s generosity, Foley said the department was “nowhere near” financially ready to replace its extrication gear.

“We needed the upgrade,” said Foley.

When asked if the donation came at a good time, McGuire responded, “They always come at a good time.”

Captain Ryan Foley shows the 28-inch spread of the new extrication tool as Ben Wohlfert gets a feel for the 57-pound “cutter” tool.Riley Klein

Riley Klein

canaan fire company

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
film

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
our community

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.