An Orange family is spending today thinking about what to do next now that they can't live in their house.
The family, Mike Gaglione and Dawn Brown and her son, narrowly escaped injury last night when a large branch from a tree fell on their Peck Lane house.
"We were all sleeping when we heard a loud crackling sound. It just missed Dawn's son's room by six inches," Gaglione said.
Bryan Bowser, Dawn's brother, built the house. "It dropped the floor joists by two and a half feet," he said while assessing the damage on Tuesday.
Bowser, who is the CEO of Fairfield-based PPG Properties, said the incident is a good lesson about the need for "preventative maintenance on trees."
The tree landed on a structurally sound part of the house, Bowser noted. "If the tree had been six inches to the right, it would have gone right through to the ground," he said.
The insurance company is bringing in their inspector. Orange Building Official Fred Trotta was not immediately available for comment.
Bowser said he is 90% sure the house will be deemed totaled. "It's gonna be a knockdown," he predicted.
