A major 2018 story in the emergency services sphere was voters’ November referendum approval of plans to convert and expand a former office building at 191 South Main Street into a police station to replace the existing outdated police station at 3 Main Street. Police are expected to occupy their new $15.1-million facility in the summer of 2020.

Police officials had been discussing the need for new facilities for their law enforcement/public safety role for the past 15 years.

This year, police officers on patrol started wearing body-mounted cameras, commonly known as bodycams. The compact black rectangular devices are worn on officers’ chests to record their interactions with the public. The bodycams are intended to provide a visual and sonic record of what occurred during police/public interactions to increase the accountability of police and the public.

Police and fire departments in Newtown responded around 9:30 am, December 14, to a phoned-in bomb threat to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Police responded to the bomb threat; Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue and Newtown Hook & Ladder were dispatched when a fire alarm sounded at the same time at the school. Children were safely evacuated from the school on the day marking six years since 12/14.

During the past year, police provided traffic control at many simultaneous road improvement projects across town. Those projects included a state Department of Transportation (DOT) project to shift the southern end of Edmond Road westward to create a four-way signalized intersection of Edmond Road, Church Hill Road, and Commerce Road. The intersection realignment project, which will be completed in spring 2019, is intended to improve traffic safety in the area, which has the highest local accident rate.

Another DOT traffic project involved replacing an obsolete bridge and widening a section of Sugar Street, near its intersection with Main Street, South Main Street, and Glover Avenue. The work is intended to alleviate a traffic bottleneck.

A third DOT traffic project shifted the northern intersection of South Main Street and Pecks Lane about 250 feet to the south and widened South Main Street in that area. The changes are intended to improve travel safety.

Also, an ongoing town project involves replacing the obsolete Walnut Tree Hill Road bridge that crosses the Pootatuck River, near Glen Road. Another ongoing town project entails replacing the Toddy Hill Road bridge that crosses Curtis Brook, near Berkshire Road.

A private construction project has been underway to install a large-diameter water pipeline for the Aquarion Water Company beneath a 4,000 feet roadway including western Walnut Tree Hill Road and a section of Old Green Road. The pipeline will connect Aquarion’s public water supply system to a planned one-million-gallon water storage tank at 13 Old Green Road.

May Macroburst, Emergency Responses

The major windstorm that struck town on May 15 caused extensive damage to homes due to fallen trees, especially in densely developed areas along the Housatonic River, and resulted in widespread extended power outages.

The heavy damage caused local schools to close for several days as emergency services workers cleaned up the extensive debris strewn across roadways. Firefighters responded to several hundred calls due to the storm, most of those being calls for reports of wires down.

Workers spent weeks, if not months, cleaning up the wind-related damage in places such as Lakeview Terrace. Evidence of the storm’s intensity is still apparent in some wooded areas near the Housatonic River, where scores of fallen tree trunks still lie chockablock, leaning up against one another.

During 2018, volunteer firefighters also responded to a number of local structure fires. A house fire on Bungalow Terrace in January injured a man and caused an estimated $150,000 in damages; a Charter Ridge house fire, also in January, resulted in $300,000 in property damage; a March house fire on Great Quarter Road caused an estimated $150,000 in damage; and in July, a house fire on Bradley Lane resulted in about $150,000 in damage, according to fire officials.

In 2018, the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company acquired a used “quint” style fire truck, which has a 75-foot-long ladder mounted on it. The fire company bought the vehicle to be prepared for emergencies at the growing number of tall buildings in its fire district. Newtown Hook & Ladder and Sandy Hook firefighters also have fire trucks with ladders mounted on them.

In October, the Dodgingtown, Botsford, and Sandy Hook volunteer firefighters took delivery of new town-owned fire tanker trucks to replace aging tankers.

In August, Hook & Ladder firefighters held a long-delayed awards ceremony to publicly recognize many of their members for their service and effectiveness in responding to emergencies.

In June, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company celebrated its 80th anniversary. The event was observed with a gala at Michael’s At The Grove in Bethel. Also, the fire company held an Open House/Public Safety Day in September. The group also held its annual LobsterFest in June and golf tournament in October.

Garner Warden

Last spring, Anthony J. Corcella was named the warden of Garner Correctional Institution, the state’s high-security prison for men at 50 Nunnawauk Road.

Warden Corcella’s past work for state Department of Correction (DOC) included assignments at York Correctional Institution and the former Gates Correctional Institution, both in Niantic, as well as Brooklyn Correctional Institution in Brooklyn. Warden Corcella filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Garner’s former warden, Denise Dilworth.

Warden Corcella is the eighth person to head Garner since it opened in November 1992. The 260,000-square-foot high-security prison, which is set on a 118-acre site, specializes in the incarceration and treatment of mental health inmates.