An Extraordinarily Busy Day For Newtown’s Emergency Services

By Steve Bigham

The calls came into the emergency switchboard fast and furious Tuesday in what turned out to be one of the busiest days for the dispatch center in a long time. Accidents and other emergencies had police, firefighters, and ambulance personnel on the go throughout the day.

The highlight of the day – and perhaps the indirect cause of later accidents – took place at 10:41 am when a tractor-trailer truck carrying a modular home lost control and rolled over along the eastbound lane of Interstate 84 near Exit 11. (See separate story.) The crash tossed the home across the road where it sat, Oz-like, blocking traffic for the next  2½ hours.

The accident backed up traffic for miles, forcing motorists off Exits 9, 10, and 11 and onto local roads in Newtown. Church Hill Road was particularly backed up as drivers tried to navigate their way around the accident scene.

The action kicked off at 7:17 am when the first of four crashes took place along Interstate 84. This early-morning mishap took place in the eastbound lane just before Exit 9. Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company responded.

Three hours later, the truck/modular home wreck took place and Sandy Hook Hook responded. Then after a couple of false alarms and a few ambulance calls, Hawleyville was called back out onto the highway for another crash near Exit 9 at 2:14 pm.

Twenty-seven minutes later, Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Company was dispatched to a motor vehicle accident on I-84 west between exits 10 and 9. At 6:16 pm Hook & Ladder responded to a two-car crash at the intersection of Route 25 and Mile Hill Road.

On Tuesday, there were also 11 medical calls, which the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to in addition to the accidents. One call put ambulance personnel back out onto the interstate after a trucker, who had pulled over to the side of the road, dialed 911 to say he was having a heart attack.

“I went to eight of them. It was the busiest day I remember and I’ve been doing this for about four years. I don’t think it was anything in the air, it was just statistics,” explained Ken Lerman of the ambulance corps. “It gets so you have to restock the ambulance in a hurry and go to the next call. On one call, we were at the hospital when we were dispatched and we hurried back and across town. The paramedic got there before we did.”

At one point during the day, dispatchers informed emergency personnel that Danbury Hospital was extremely busy and to call ahead with patient status as early as possible.