5 hours Ago By Naveen Dhaliwal
MONTVILLE, N.J. — A routine tree trimming job turned into chaos Wednesday as a crane fell on a house in Montville.
Crews were originally there to do a routine tree-pruning job, the first time they were on the job at that property. "The crane was up in the air. It looked like– even my wife made a comment that, oh, that looks a little dangerous," neighbor Alan Vazzano said.
Seconds after Vazzano saw it, it crashed. "I heard a scream, and two seconds, I heard a big bang," neighbor Roger Patel said. The crane crashed across the entire length of the house, and the truck it was attached to ended up on its side with the driver's side wheels in the air.
Among the damage to the home, it appeared to knock over a chimney. Homeowner Ken Rose and his wife weren't home at the time, but their housekeeper and four dogs were. No one was hurt.
"I was very surprised at the amount of equipment here for a relatively routine work," Rose said. "There is significant damage. But fortunately, again, nobody was hurt.
" With two tow trucks and 46 years of experience, cleaning up the mess was a big job for Mike Corigliano's towing company. "You have to worry about saving the house from collapsing and set up all the proper rigging," he said. While he worries about that, the homeowners are worried about the upcoming wet forecast .
"My biggest concern is to make sure the house is protected from the rain," Rose said. With Thanksgiving just a week away, Rose and his wife say they still plan to celebrate, but they'll have to do it somewhere else. "I don't know if that's going to happen.
So it is a sad time, at the holidays, but fortunately, we do have friends, and hopefully we'll be invited somewhere else," he said. CBS News New York reached out to the tree company and has not heard back. Naveen Dhaliwal joined the CBS News New York team in April 2023 as a general assignment reporter covering stories of all kinds across the tri-state area.
Prior to CBS New York, Naveen reported for WABC-TV. She was first to report the rash of South Asian attacks in the Spring of 2022. Naveen won an Emmy for her work during the July 2019 Manhattan blackout.
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