Fire Commission weighs ladder truck options, firehouse renovation

Other Committee · Meeting of June 9, 2026

New Canaan Fire Commission weighs a costly fix for an aging ladder truck that no longer fits its historic firehouse. The fire chief told the commission the shortest available rear-mount ladder truck stands 10 feet, 10 inches, too tall for the firehouse's 10-foot, 8-inch door opening, forcing a choice between refurbishing the current rig, custom fabrication near $3 million, or a facilities fix. A standard replacement runs about $1.9 million; a neighboring town recently paid $3.1 million for a rescue truck.

Commissioner Ed floated three paths: a second north-end firehouse, relocating downtown, or an 18-month to two-year in-place renovation. "The town of New Canaan will spend $2,000 to study anything," Ed said. The apparatus committee meets June 17 to develop recommendations.

The commission also approved its May 12 minutes and heard the fire marshal report eight investigations, including two aided by surveillance video for the first time.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,842 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of June 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

The Full Article

Call to Order and Minutes

The Fire Commission opened its regular meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and a motion, seconded and approved without dissent, to accept the minutes of the May 12 meeting. A brief public-comment period, capped at two minutes per speaker under the commission's rules, drew only a joking aside from members about a commissioner identified as Ed; no resident or outside party stepped forward with substantive comment.

Fire Marshal's Report

Fire Marshal Paul told the commission his office handled eight investigations over the past month, calling it a busy stretch that included help from firefighter Russ while Paul himself was out for a week. For the first time, surveillance video assisted two investigations: a smoking incident on a balcony at 186 Lakeview Avenue, and the cooking-appliance fire at 84 Main Street that the fire chief later described in more detail. Paul reviewed several ongoing town construction and code projects. St. Aloysius School is aiming to finish work by the end of June, with systems testing scheduled for that Thursday and a walkthrough planned for responding units to familiarize themselves with the building. A phased renovation on Locust Avenue, now in its 13th, 14th or 15th phase by Paul's count, is being done section by section so the building's occupants are not displaced. The proposed relocation of the town's alternative high school into the former bank building at 212 Elm Street has cleared its certificate-of-occupancy inspection, which Paul and the building department conducted the previous Friday; occupancy is not expected until next year, and the building has one more tenant completing a fit-up. Separately, at the site of the former police department, Paul said contractors are conducting non-structural, investigative demolition because no building plans could be located, likely lost when Town Hall flooded. The work is intended to let architects see behind existing walls before drafting plans for a new, code-listed wall assembly. Commissioners asked few follow-up questions and thanked Paul for the report.

Fire Chief's Report: Personnel, Training and Incidents

The chief's report, dated May 26, opened with communications and personnel notes. Five department members, Lieutenant Jackson and firefighters Dioro, Isaacs, Cantrell and Freeland, completed an arborist rescue training course hosted by the Wilton Fire Department, which the chief said drew very positive feedback despite being challenging. Firefighter Ian Krennan earned his EMT certification. The department held an officers' meeting focused on administrative organization and set a meeting calendar for the rest of the year to track progress on operational changes. The Local 3224 bargaining unit signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the first selectman, which the chief said was well received across the department. The chief also flagged that Commissioner Ed received a lifetime achievement award at a recent company dinner, and thanked the department's officers broadly for taking on administrative assignments, singling out firefighter Isaacs for computer work and firefighter Cantrell for social media duties.

On incidents, the department responded to 133 calls for service in the reporting period. The chief's breakdown, delivered quickly and not fully reconciled in the audio, worked out to roughly five fire calls, 11 medical calls, 21 hazardous-condition calls, one rescue, 36 public-service calls and 58 calls requiring no emergency response. Two fires stood out: a contents fire in a kitchen at 46 Main Street, which came in as an automatic alarm and was located quickly by responding members, and the cooking-appliance fire at 84 Main Street, which the chief said produced a full video record of the appliance malfunctioning and smoking out the building. Response-time metrics were described as in line with recent months, with one incident running longer than 10 minutes, two instances of mutual aid given, three of mutual aid received, seven incidents requiring recall of off-duty members, and 67.15 hours logged in volunteer standby time.

Training time was lighter than usual because the department devoted significant effort to its annual Memorial Day cleanup, including waxing floors, cleaning windows and preparing apparatus. Formal training included an after-action review of a carbon monoxide emergency at 105 Elm Street, a positive-pressure ventilation review, driver training on aerial positioning and tanker water-supply operations, and hazardous-materials training on metering and monitoring equipment tied directly to the 105 Elm Street call. Officer-development sessions covered pre-incident planning at various buildings, and special-operations training included the Wilton arborist rescue course.

Apparatus Status and Maintenance

The chief, working with Lieutenant Vetty as fleet supervisor, presented a month-over-month apparatus status update. A radio and emergency-light shutoff problem on one rig, which the chief said occurred while responding through an intersection, was traced to wiring specific to the vehicle and repaired at Specialty under warranty at no cost. Work-order counts showed general progress: Engine 1 dropped to six open orders from nine, with none high priority. Engine 2 carries 31 open orders, including one high-priority item dating to 2024 that mechanic Kevin does not consider truly high priority; the commission is weighing Engine 2 against Engine 4 for a planned evaluation. Ladder 3 has 13 open orders after an antifreeze leak was repaired during its annual preventive maintenance. Engine 4, also at 13 open orders, has two high-priority pump-related issues after a drip-chain repair; it is slated to go to an evaluation vendor identified in the audio as "Gallow" next fiscal year to help determine whether Engine 2 or Engine 4 should be prioritized for further work.

Rescue 5's generator was the most extended repair saga. After the unit's generator was serviced, returned, and failed again repeatedly, moving between the apparatus repair shop and the generator manufacturer, the chief said he intervened directly and secured an agreement for a brand-new generator under a fresh warranty at no additional cost. Engine 4 remains in service acting as the rescue in the meantime. Engine 7, with 15 open orders (down from 25), has an air-conditioning leak that has worsened; the rig is being sent to a vendor identified as Northeastern this week for that repair along with other outstanding items funded through a remaining purchase-order balance. Tanker 8, with 12 open orders, had its bump stop and switches repaired by Northeastern and, after a recent EGR malfunction that initially looked like a costly head-gasket failure, was fixed on-site quickly by a vendor identified as Atlantic.

"We're not as reliant on the generators now with all the battery power tools." — The fire chief, on why the Rescue 5 delay was manageable

Grants, Committees and Community Events

The chief reported a walkthrough of the large construction project at Waveny with the fire marshal and on-duty crews to address apparatus access, describing the property owner as cooperative in relocating the sprinkler system's fire department connection and setting up fire access roads, with another coordination meeting held the same day as the commission meeting. The department is working with a contact identified as Greg Riley, along with Lieutenant Sasser as equipment officer, on a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant application for under $75,000, a category the chief called a "mini grant." He said AFG's overall micro-grant success rate is about 13 percent, and that the department's application is built around equipment needs tied to new multifamily housing construction in town, an argument the chief characterized as both an existing and emerging risk. The chief also attended a risk-management committee meeting he called uneventful, a crisis advisory board meeting at the high school, a labor-management meeting with Local 3224, a weekly communications committee meeting (with firefighter Cantrell covering one session on social media), the Stamford tanker drill on May 11, and a career chiefs' legal seminar in Hartford on May 29. Planning continues for New Canaan's 250th anniversary parade; the chief said he has emailed an event organizer identified as Lisa to clarify whether the department will contribute apparatus only or also march, and is still awaiting a response. A high school intern, James Ball, completed a short internship that ended after about a week, working on administrative projects and, in his final days, trying on gear and spraying water under supervision; he was set to cook lunch for interns and town staff the day after the meeting.

Apparatus Committee Formation

The commission discussed staffing its apparatus committee, which is not yet fully formed. The chief said he sent an email soliciting members and, working with Kevin, is trying to keep the group smaller than in the past, when he said it included a representative from every group and became unwieldy. He floated a staggered-terms model, with senior, mid-level and junior members serving roughly three-term rotations to build a bench of institutional knowledge over time, and set a deadline of the following week for interested members to respond. Commissioners briefly debated committee size, with the chief favoring five members and noting he has no objection to an even number since disagreements on the committee have typically involved only one or two dissenting views. Kevin confirmed his willingness to serve, and the chief said Commissioner Ed has also expressed interest. Final committee appointments rest with the chief.

The Ladder Truck Question and the Firehouse's Future

The most substantive discussion of the meeting grew out of a topic Commissioner Finn had raised previously: whether the department could commission a custom-fabricated engine or ladder chassis to extend the life of the current, historic Main Street firehouse rather than relocate. Commissioner Ed said he had done research into the feasibility, including whether a chassis manufacturer still produces the drawings and could grant rights to use them as a fabrication basis. He reported that the firehouse's door opening measures 10 feet, 8 inches, while the shortest rear-mount ladder truck he could locate stands 10 feet, 10 inches, ruling it out; a comparable rear-mount used in Boston stands 10 feet, 7 inches and would also be too tall. A mid-mount aerial configuration, which places the turntable behind the cab, would fit height-wise but adds significant length to the vehicle, complicating its footprint in the existing firehouse bays.

The fire chief responded with an operational assessment, noting the department's longest current response run, to the north end of town, takes 10 to 11 minutes. He said that if a substation property could be found to serve larger apparatus in that area, it would help response times, but that absent that option, he would favor refurbishing the department's current, hard-to-replace ladder truck rather than pursuing custom fabrication, and separately pursuing renovation of the existing firehouse.

"We want to build the rig around our operations, not build our operations around the rig." — The fire chief

Ed laid out three broad options for the commission to consider: building a second, north-end firehouse, which he said would likely be the cheapest option long-term and would reduce insurance costs and response times in that part of town; relocating the firehouse into a deck structure near Locust Avenue, an idea that arose from discussion of an affordable-housing proposal that would include a parking garage there; or renovating the current Main Street firehouse in place, over an estimated 18 months to two years, similar to how the town rebuilt its police station, potentially adding height, width and updated systems such as compliant locker rooms, HVAC and decontamination facilities that the current building lacks.

On cost, the chief said a standard rear-mount ladder truck runs about $1.9 million, while a custom-fabricated version could approach $3 million, comparing that figure to a neighboring community's recent $3.1 million rescue truck purchase. Refurbishing the current ladder truck instead, he said, could save roughly $1.5 million to $2 million that could instead fund firehouse renovation work.

"The town of New Canaan will spend $2,000 to study anything." — Commissioner Ed

The chief agreed a more complete architectural study would ultimately be needed, but said the commission first needs a rough, low-cost internal assessment to determine whether to proceed further. One member, drawing on prior experience with the town's Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance, said town leadership will almost certainly require a third-party study to validate whatever direction the commission recommends, and urged the commission to engage that process early. Members generally agreed the ladder-truck decision and the firehouse's longer-term future are related but should be tracked as separate questions rather than combined into a single, harder-to-resolve decision. A north-end substation location near Michigan Road was floated informally, along with a joking suggestion of siting it near a garden center in neighboring New Canaan-Vista border area, but no formal action was taken on any facilities option.

Response Protocols in the Downtown Core

Separately, the chief outlined a proposed change to the department's standard order of response for downtown "box 4" and "box 6" areas, moving the ladder truck from fourth-due to third-due based on feedback gathered at a recent officers' meeting. He cited the 84 Main Street fire as an example where the second-arriving officer deviated from the standard order of response, given heavy smoke in a three-story mixed-occupancy building with hydrant access nearby, and rolled the ladder truck ahead of its typical position. The department has also shifted from its traditional engine-tanker response format to an "engine-engine" format after Tanker 8 went out of service for mechanical reasons roughly three weeks before the meeting; the chief said the department has drilled on the new format weekly and validated it operationally, but remains cautious about fully replacing the tanker response downtown due to hydrant spacing and hose-bed configuration concerns.

Procedural Steps and Outcome

No formal motion was made on the ladder truck, firehouse, or response-protocol discussions. The commission's consensus, reached through discussion rather than a recorded vote, directs the apparatus committee, once staffed, to evaluate ladder truck options and report back to the full commission, expected at its regular meeting; the apparatus committee itself is scheduled to meet June 17 to finalize its own membership and begin that work. Members did not commit to timing on a possible separate firehouse exploratory committee or study.

New Business and Adjournment

Under new business, a commissioner said he would attend the town's 250th anniversary planning meeting the following morning at 10 a.m. at Town Hall, with the chief also expected to attend. No other old or new business was raised. The commission set its next regular meeting for July 14 at 5 p.m. at New Canaan Town Hall, then approved a motion to adjourn without dissent.

Implications and What Is Next

The apparatus committee's June 17 meeting is the next concrete checkpoint, expected to produce a recommendation on whether to refurbish, replace, or attempt custom fabrication of the ladder truck. Whatever direction the committee recommends will feed directly into the larger, unresolved question of the firehouse's future, a decision commissioners acknowledged will likely require town-level funding, a third-party study, and buy-in from the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance before any construction proceeds.

Commission chairman, presided over the meeting, called for motions and votes; not named in the audio. Commissioner Ed, presented research on ladder truck dimensions and firehouse renovation options; also recognized for a lifetime achievement award; surname not given. Commissioner Finn, raised the initial question of custom apparatus fabrication; surname not given. Additional commission members appear to have been present and participated in the vote counts described as unanimous, but were not individually identified by name in the audio. Fire Chief, delivered the department's May 26 monthly report and led the apparatus and firehouse discussion; not named in the audio. Fire Marshal Paul, delivered the fire marshal's monthly report; surname not given. Lieutenant Vetty, fleet supervisor, worked with the chief on the monthly apparatus status report. Kevin, mechanic or fleet-maintenance contact who assists the chief with apparatus work orders; expressed willingness to serve on the apparatus committee; surname and formal title not given. Public commenters: none spoke substantively during the public-comment period.

Wilton Fire Department, hosted the arborist rescue training completed by five New Canaan members. IAFF Local 3224, the firefighters' bargaining unit that signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the first selectman. Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, the source of a sub-$75,000 "mini grant" application built around new multifamily-housing risk, discussed in the chief's report. GK, apparatus repair shop handling Rescue 5's generator issue and slated to evaluate Engine 2 and Engine 4. Northeastern ("Nor Eastern"), repair vendor addressing Engine 7's air conditioning and other outstanding work orders on multiple rigs. Atlantic, vendor that repaired Tanker 8's EGR/head-gasket issue on-site. Specialty, vendor that repaired a radio and emergency-light malfunction under warranty. May 12, 2026, Fire Commission meeting minutes, approved at the start of this meeting. St. Aloysius School construction project, cited in the fire marshal's report as nearing completion with systems testing scheduled. 212 Elm Street (former bank building), cited as the proposed relocation site for the town's alternative high school, with its certificate of occupancy issued. Waveny, site of a large construction project requiring coordination on fire apparatus access, addressed in the chief's report. New Canaan 250th anniversary parade planning committee, referenced regarding the department's continuing role in the celebration.