'Community Spirit' Lifts Florham Park Amid Outages, Mayor Says

The following statement was sent by Florham Park Police on behalf of Florham Park Mayor R. Scott Eveland.

Hurricane Sandy has left the Borough of Florham Park with severe damage to both property and person.  The damage has not been officially tallied, however it is estimated to be well into the millions.  In order to prepare for the oncoming storm, the Mayor, Council, Borough Administrator, Department of Public Works (DPW), Department of Community Services (DCS), Police Department, Volunteer Fire Department, Volunteer First Aid Department and Florham Park Public Schools met and activated the Florham Park Office for Emergency Management ("OEM").  The Florham Park OEM worked closely with its partners at Morris County OEM as well as Madison OEM in order to prepare for the impending storm.

Beginning on Sunday October 21st the OEM began activating the boroughs emergency operation procedures, amassing supplies, preparing contingency plans, reviewing issues from last year's storms and setting goals for response, recovery, restoration and repairs.  The goal of the OEM was to provide public safety, dispense timely information to the residents and clear the borough of debris and damage so private utilities could restore power and services to our community.  On October 27th OEM activated an Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The purpose of the EOC was to monitor the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the Borough and to coordinate the response and recovery efforts by all borough departments and partners. The EOC has been operational since October 27th and will remain operational until the Borough is back to normal.

During Hurricane Sandy, DPW crews worked throughout the night.  They remained vigilant and sacrificed personal safety to clear roads and debris during the storm so private utility and water companies can restore services to residents of the Borough.  It cannot be highlighted enough that although the State restricted use of the roads, Florham Park's first responders and public works departments were working during the storm despite the high winds and rain.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, October 30th, all major roads in the Borough were cleared and open for traffic.  Due to years of preparations, Police Chief Patrick Montuore secured generators to run traffic lights throughout the Borough to aid traffic safety.  The First Aid Squad assisted countless seniors and ill residents who had special needs such as depleting oxygen supplies. The FAS replenished supplies and monitored them throughout the storm and after. The Borough opened two charging and information centers providing residents with electricity to charge phones and computers.  The Florham Park Volunteer Fire Department opened its Brooklake Headquarters to the public for a charging and warming center.  The Fire Department was open 24 hours a day providing coffee, food, electricity and heat.  Many residents spent significant time at the Fire Department playing games and socializing.  Fire Chief John Young and Deputy Chief’s Scott Carpenter and Chuck Keel manned the Fire Department’s Headquarters proving around the clock services to the residents needing a respite from the cold.  The OEM also provided free water and ice to residents at the Holy Family Church parking lot.  The Holy Family Church through Father Fred Walters opened its facilities to the OEM for its needs.

Paramount to the EOC operations was timely communication to residents regarding hazards, storm updates, power updates and other general information.  The Borough's Administration and OEM sought to ensure constant communication with all the residents. The EOC utilized various social media to broadcast this information such as Facebook, Twitter and Reverse 911. Chief Montuore, Mike Cannilla of the First Aid Squad and Borough Administrator William Huyler organized a grass roots campaign to distribute written information to residents.  Hundreds of volunteers aging from 12 to 80 walked the streets of Florham Park, knocking on doors, answering questions and setting up cell phones for residents to receive text alerts. Councilwoman Carmen Cefolo-Pane organized volunteers to contact and assist seniors in the Borough.  This included arranging for cell phones, transportation to warming centers and other essential needs.

Community spirit was prevalent throughout the borough.  Residents were dropping off coffee and soup for the warming stations, assisting neighbors with tree and limb removal, transportation issues and sharing power from generators.  The DPW, Police Department and Administration constantly surveyed the borough looking for issues and answering questions.

By Friday November 2nd the OEM opened another warming and charging station at the Florham Park Public Library.  Councilman Charles Malone assisted OEM with scheduling and staffing the Library for the comfort of the residents.

As of November 3rd JCP&L restored power to a few areas of the Borough.  Mayor Eveland and Chief Montuore were in daily contact with JCP&L.  This included daily conference calls with JCP&L and numerous discussions between the Borough Administrator and JCP&L representatives. Although the Borough has no control over JCP&L’s work or timetable for restoration of the power, through the efforts of the OEM, the Borough was ready for JCP&L to begin work the morning after the storm.

Any further questions can be answered by Borough Administrator William Huyler at 973-410-5312.