Alex Scuorzo sat at his desk Monday evening, struggling through a bout of writer’s block. In his bedroom at his Eagle Rock Way home, the Montclair Kimberly Academy senior felt stuck, reading and rereading what he’d managed to put on paper for his college essay.
Then a spark came. A literal spark, that is. Lamps flickered on and off, and his air conditioning unit briefly shut down. Then he saw smoke drifting into his bedroom window, and fire jutting from the home’s electrical service wiring.
A brief electrical surge had caused a power line connected to the home to go up in flames. Alex yelled down to his father, John, and mother, Rebecca, in the kitchen…