Bergen Record
By DOUGLASS CROUSE
Date: 03-25-2001, Sunday
WESTWOOD -- A self-employed carpenter and lifelong resident died
Friday night in a house fire.
John Leavy, 40, died shortly after being pulled from his parents' 1 1/2
bedroom Cape Cod home at 444 Kinderkamack Road, police said.
Firefighters, who had been out on a prior call, arrived within a minute
of receiving the 9:55 p.m. call and extinguished the flames about 15
minutes later, Detective Robert Saul said.
"The firefighters got him out of there alive and the medics were ready
to transport him, but he couldn't hold on," Saul said.
The fire was confined to a single bedroom on the second floor, where
firefighters found Leavy. His parents had rushed out of the home to call
911.
Investigators from the Bergen County Arson Squad ruled the fire
accidental, attributing it to what they called the improper disposal of
smoking materials. Police said Leavy had been a smoker.
Officials at the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office could not be
reached for comment on the cause of death. Police said they suspected
smoke inhalation.
