Hopatcong Police identify man killed by tree that fell on his home.

Herald Staff Report

HOPATCONG Police on Friday identified the borough man who was killed when a tree fell on his home Thursday afternoon as Frederick Dalton, 74.

Dalton was killed when a tree fell through his house at 102 Maxim Drive at 3:17 p.m., pinning him beneath the tree and roof debris, police said.

Officers Nick Maresca and Dave Schultz, Sgt. Joseph Magrini, Lt. Thomas Kmetz, Detective William Sutphen and Detective Sgt. Michael Houtz responded to the report of the tree falling on the house, possibly trapping the homeowner inside.

When the officers arrived, they called to the homeowner but did not get a response.

According to police, Maresca and Magrini used a ladder and crawled through a back upstairs window looking for the homeowner. When they entered the home they found that debris from the roof had collapsed on a kerosene heater in the upstairs living room, causing a fire. Maresca used his patrol car fire extinguisher to put the fire out, police said.

Magrini inhaled the smoke and chemicals from the fire extinguisher and was able to exit the home but became sick and was taken to St. Clares Hospital in Dover for treatment.

As patrols were looking for the homeowner, they located two dogs that were not harmed. The officers got the dogs out of the house and handed them over to the next-door neighbor. Officers then located the victim in a recliner in the upstairs living room with the tree and roof on top of him, police said.

Magrini and Maresca found Dalton pinned entirely beneath the tree except for his legs, Kmetz said Thursday. As it was impossible to remove him due to the size of the tree, a tree-cutting crew had to respond to assist with removing Dalton from the home.

The nearly 80-foot oak tree, which uprooted from a rocky area, cleaved through both floors of the home. It also fell on the house next door, damaging the roof.

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Hopatcong Police identify man killed by tree that fell on his home.