Franklin Lakes November 9, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 House fire during snowstorm causes fatality by Frank J. McMahon A fire in a Franklin Lakes house that erupted during the unusual October snowstorm resulted in the death of an 85-year-old man. On Oct. 29, snow began falling during the morning, and was predicted to last all day and into the night with an eight to 10-inch snowfall anticipated. The heavy, wet snow fell on trees that had not yet shed their leaves, causing many trees to topple and limbs to snap and drag down power lines with them. At 3:31 p.m. that day, the police department responded to a report of a house fire at 860 High Mountain Road. When they arrived, they found three people in the house at the time of the fire, which police determined was started when a tree branch fell onto a power line, tearing it away from the house. That caused an electrical malfunction which resulted in a power surge that eventually manifesting itself as a fire in the front, ground floor bedroom. The elderly man, Peter Andre Sr, his son Peter Jr, and housekeeper Lisa Brown, were unable to call 911 to report the fire as the telephone system was not operating due to the storm. The senior Andre was wheelchair bound and was removed from the house by members of the police department and the Franklin Fire Department. CPR was performed at the scene before he was transported to Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Wayne by the Franklin Lakes Ambulance Corps, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital, apparently from smoke inhalation. The son and housekeeper were not injured in the fire, but two police officers, Francis O’Brien and Mark McCombs, were treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation. The storm caused numerous power outages in the borough and surrounding towns. On the night of the storm, the Franklin Lakes Office of Emergency Management opened a limited services shelter at the Bender Court firehouse for those without power or heat. Hoses were put out at both borough firehouses for residents who needed water. By noon on Sunday, it was reported that 2,300 homes in the borough were without electric power and the restoration of that power was not expected until at least the next day. That night, the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management opened a regional shelter at the Fairleigh Dickinson University Rothman Center in Hackensack for citizens who needed congregate care overnight. The borough asked residents to postpone their children’s trick-or-treating until Friday, Nov. 4 because of the emergency conditions throughout the borough. On Nov. 1, the borough reported that about 1,100 homes in the borough were still without electric power, although service had been restored to many residents in the borough, and that number dropped to 812 on Nov. 2. Rockland Electric distributed dry ice at the county’s office of emergency management on Campgaw Road in Mahwah on Nov. 1 and 2. Residents were also invited to (continued on page 21)