Monroe in May 2018: A Little Difficulty Getting Around

MONROE, CT -- When Monroe began the month of May 2018, residents knew they would be having a little difficulty getting around Sundays through Thursday. But neither they nor the National Weather Service had any inkling how tough getting about would become once the Storm of May 15 hit during rush hour that afternoon.

The town's firefighters responded to over a dozen emergency calls including a tree on a house, smoke odor inside three homes, a motor vehicle accident, and wires down. At the height of the storm, Monroe Volunteer Fire Department No. 1, with the assistance of Stepney Fire Department and Stevenson Volunteer Fire Company, reported on social media that they had over 20 volunteer firefighters staffing the station and all trucks operating at simultaneous calls during the store. Most residents would not see power be restored before Sunday afternoon.

Most residents were much better off than the two employees injured in the Axel Plastics Research Laboratories fire that occurred in the midst of the power recovery efforts. They were taken to St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, the extent of their injuries not reported.

The legal dispute between the town and Monroe Police Officer Andrew Wall was finally resolved in May. After chemotherapy and radiation treatment for his brain cancer, Wall was cleared by by his doctors to return the force. But, Wall said, the police refused to take him back. The new settlement reconciled all that.

May ends in Monroe with a warning from the town that traffic drums and signs will be positioned and will guide traffic through a new roundabout configuration at the intersection of Routes 111 (Monroe Turnpike) and 110 (Shelton Road) next month. The project is designed to improve safety at the intersection which has a high-frequency history of motor vehicle crashes. With the construction of the roundabout, a reduction in the number of accidents is anticipated, as well as an overall safety improvement at the intersection.