Sandy Hook Family Speaking Out After Dog Was Electrocuted

SANDY HOOK, CT — They say all dogs go to heaven. If true, Buddy's there now. But the 12-year-old Labrador retriever should be in his backyard frolicking.

Instead, the family dog of the Fungs in Sandy Hook was electrocuted and died after coming into contact with live wires downed by Tropical Storm Isaias and left energized by Eversource.

The Aug. 4 storm ripped through the Fungs' Pootatuck Park neighborhood, slamming trees, limbs and power lines to the ground. Right outside their home, there were two electrical fires, Rebecca Fung told Patch.

"The Sandy Hook Fire Department was here," she said. "They called Eversource, waited for fire to go out, then they left."

Over the course of three days, Eversource contractors twice said the downed lines that caused the fires were dead, but they were not, she said.

"They left live wires hidden in the grass."

The Fungs said that although by Friday their road had been cleared and they could leave their home, "Little did we know that the electrical wires were still very much live, mere yards from where my children play.

"This all was a setup for the unfortunate events that took place on Aug. 8 when our family dog Buddy, stepped on the grass close to the wires and was electrocuted," the Fungs said.

The day Buddy was killed, John Fung had gone to get gas for their generator. Buddy was outside relieving himself when he was electrocuted.

"I’m just thankful we didn’t see it," Rebecca Fung said. "We would have run over to him. We would have gotten electrocuted."

The fire department had been there already for the fires; then the fire chief came back.

"He demanded Eversource come right way," Rebecca Fung said. "Now we have a dead, electrocuted dog. And we had to watch him just lay there."

The devastated family was without power for nine days. And after Buddy’s death, they said, they were told by Eversource the company "didn’t know the wire was live."

"If just one thing had been done properly, this would not have happened," Rebecca said.

The Fungs began writing letters

In letters to Eversource and Gov. Ned Lamont, John Fung wrote that not only was the family’s dog’s death avoidable, he pointed to six very specific failures, "Any one of which could have prevented this."

Fung said the safety wire "didn’t trigger the cutout fuse," and "upon grounding the circuit did not trip, and remained live."

He said there were "severally insufficient 'Make Safe' crews" in their area and "none ever responded to the fires." He said that "despite emergency services responding twice and notifying Eversource, no action was taken" and noted that "multiple independent inspectors came through and visually inspected the wires and poles, neglecting to notice, or act on the imminent threat posed by the wires." More importantly, "despite our reporting, and the neighbor reporting of down wires, no action was taken," he said.

Fung said an Eversource “response to any one of these points would have saved the life of our beloved pet. Besides the gross negligence we have witnessed, even more disturbing is how easily it could have been one of my three children.”

“We now are questioning of the safety of the things that are supposed to be safe around us, and that sense of security is not something that will be repaired easily,” he wrote.

Patch emailed Eversource for comment regarding the wires and is awaiting a response on that issue.

The Fung kids grew up with their beloved Buddy

John and Rebecca Fung were dating when they got Buddy, then a pup, in 2008. Their three children grew up with the dog. He was a member of the family. Her kids are “resilient,” she said but are grieving the loss, and in such an unimaginable way.

“We’re not going to go after Eversource. We don’t have the resources to do that, nor would we. But there’s something a lot bigger that needs to be out there: This should not have happened, but it could have been a person that was electrocuted. Think of that. We want them held accountable, but it’s not about money. It’s about what’s right.”

Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross sent Patch this statement:

"The loss of a pet is devastating. We understand that Buddy was a beloved member of the Fung family and a lifelong companion. Our hearts go out to them at this time."

Meanwhile, the family has had to bury their beloved family member, a dog even a mail carrier could love.

“Everyone knew him,” she said. “He’s a big boy, 85 pounds, but just a love. He’d just sit outside in the summer shade watching everything. He was a good guy.”

In a Facebook post, Rebecca Fung thanked the more than 100 people who shared condolences.

"Thank you so much for your condolences and love," she wrote. "We never want this to happen to another family."

Rebecca said that as the family grieves the loss of Buddy, she’s as concerned that people know “what could have happened could have been far worse, someone could have been killed.”

For another Newtown family, similar worries

When Rebecca Fung got an email of condolence from another Newtown resident, she was touched. And then she read the rest of the email.

Bill and Joanne Brunetti live on Butterfield Road. He’s a volunteer firefighter for the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company.

“When the fire department gets calls for wires down, they don’t touch them, they block the road and babysit them until Eversource shows up,” Joanne said. “They can be there for hours babysitting wires.”

After the storm, the Brunetti family, like hundreds of thousands of others, lost power. In their case, it’s a pretty big deal, because Bill has sleep apnea and needs a C-PAC machine to breathe at night. He even is on an Eversource list given his medical condition, his wife said, so he’s a priority for power restoration.

That didn’t work out for them, though. They were in the dark from Tuesday to Tuesday. And Joanne is in a wheelchair. They suffered, but that wasn’t the reason she wrote to Rebecca Fung, or the reason she spoke to Patch.

The reason she said was their anger and frustration over live, energized wires outside their home that Eversource said repeatedly said were dead but were, she said, live and sparking and popping.

“Our responsibility is to call Eversource. We did that. Many times. Their responsibility is to get crews out and keep people safe. They did not do that," she said. "This is a matter of life and death. I love my dog, but that could have been her children.”

For days, the Brunetti family watched as crews showed up only to stay for moments and then, she said, claim a live hanging wire was not energized. Their grandson watched, twice, as cars rolled over the wire and saw it spark and pop.

At one point, after a second call, a crew member showed up and, Joanne said, “It wasn’t even a conversation, it was like they were thinking, ‘You're bothering me. Why am I coming back out again?’ I want to tell them, 'Do your job!'”

“We could not believe it,” she told Patch. “Lots of people walk up and down this road, and we were so worried someone was going to get hurt.”

Rebecca was fuming.

“I really want to get this out there,” she said. “This is becoming a very big problem. Joanne’s grandson could have been electrocuted! Sparking, popping wires. We have to confront this with Eversource."

There must be action and accountability, she said.

“We lost Buddy. It could have been a child, so, we’re speaking up.”