Locals spend days dealing with the aftermath of the damaging ice storm

(Top) A large tree branch sits on top of a families sports utility vehicle and blocks their way out of their West Main Street home on Friday after the storm had stopped. Tree limbs broke throughout the area causing millions of dollars worth of property damage. (Bottom) Electrical utility crewers work on Route 2A just east of the center of Westminster on Friday morning in the first attempts to restore power to the area homes. Large scale debris hindered much of the effort. JOURNAL PHOTOS/CAITLYN KELLEHER The snapping, cracking and popping that awoke many in the wee-hours of Friday morning were the first signs that it was not your average winter storm coming through the area.

"It made the house shake so hard it felt like lightning," said Jennifer Petit, of Westminster, who was eating lunch at Westminster Elementary School with her mom and sister on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Petits stopped by the elementary school for lunch before heading to the high school for a shower and Gardner to find a laundry mat.

"We've been coming for meals," said Jennifer's mother, Bonnie. They had six trees hit their home and more than 20 line their driveway on Town Farm Road.

The Petits' were like everyone else in town on by the early hours of Friday morning, in the dark.

The ice storm that knocked out power to nearly every home, business and electrical users put the public safety departments in both towns into overdrive and dropped both towns into States of Emergency, which remained in effect throughout the beginning of the week.

"Things are still unstable," said Ashburnham Municipal Light Director Stan Harriott on Tuesday during the daily briefings of department heads. "Things are just pieced together."

The wires and trees that covered the roads in Ashburnham and Westminster were the biggest concerns for officials and residents driving through the towns on Friday and Saturday.

But by Sunday night when more than 99 percent of Westminster and 75 percent of Ashburnham remained out power the conditions including the cold were topping the lists of concerns.

"My hope is to have everybody restored by Christmas," said Harriott, who has cancelled his own vacation to stay in Ashburnham and oversee and coordinate the work.

By Wednesday, about 60 percent of Westminster did not have power and Harriott estimated that about 500 to 600 homes in Ashburnham were still out of power.

Wednesday's weather slowed progress slightly when two to three inches of snow fell and then was topped with a little bit of ice. Larger storms predicted for the end of the caused even more concern for residents, officials and workers.

"We're working absolutely as fast as possible. This is going to be a long haul," Ashburnham Fire Chief Paul Zbikowski said Monday.

Charts line the walls in the conference room at the Public Safety Building in Ashburnham marking which streets have power, which can have emergency vehicles travel down them and which have two lanes of accessibility.

Two maps of the two are drawn on the white boards in Westminster's Public Safety Building with grids marked on one to show where residents have been checked on and one to show which streets have power.

"We're making progress," Westminster Police Chief Salvatore Albert said. "(The National Guard) is saying we are the worse they've seen."

Ashburnham DPW Director Don Ouellette said he was trying to have his crews get rest on Tuesday night after days for clearing roads because of the impending storms. He, like Westminster DPW Director Josh Hall, were concerned about wires hanging low, brush and other impediments

"I have concerns with wires in the road," Hall said, as a number of roads in Westminster remained impassable through the middle of the week.

Harriott said the plowing would also slow down the utility workers because of the wires will become buried and frozen into the snow.

Forty National Guard troops are pairing with Westminster Police to go door-todoor to check on residents and try to help them get to shelters, because of the predictions from National Grid of more than 10 days without power for some. Public safety officials in Westminster had heard it would be four to seven days before power is restored to the town's main roads and up to 10 days before power is restored on the side roads.

Many Westminster and Ashburnham residents heard many rumors of people breaking and entering into houses but police officers heard few reports. Albert said there were a few incidents in Westminster on Sunday evening but the police were not able to catch anyone in the houses at that time.

Albert said it was partly because of these reports that the police department asked the National Guard to continue with their patrols of the town.

"We're running into a lot of people driving around at night that are from out of the area," Albert said.

Police in both communities are saying people should not let their guards down and be complacent.

During the first days of the storm, Ashburnham and Westminster only had one storm-related death, when a 57-year-old Ashburnham resident died on Friday from a heart related issue while clearing wood.

The two departments had a "number of saves." Through well-being checks, firefighters and EMTs were notified of a number of injured people and those that needed other medical treatment.

Zbikowksi said the department has basically everyone on duty, and has completed more than 40 EMS calls between Friday morning and Tuesday.

Ashburnham Police are working 16 hours on, eight hours off and have two dispatchers on duty as much as possible, Brennan said.

Westminster Fire Department is also working on a full staff and the police are working 12-hour shifts with half the department on duty at a time and also have two dispatchers on duty at a time.

The fire department completed 103 fire and EMS calls from Thursday around 9 p.m. and Tuesday.

"That's a busy month's worth (of calls) in less then week," Westminster Fire Chief Brenton MacAloney said.

Ashburnham's Dispatch Center handled 911 calls for Ashby as well as Winchendon during the first days after the storm.

Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District has cancelled school through Friday, and well reassess the situation on Thursday to determine if school will resume before the end of the year.

An extended day program is currently being run at no cost for families from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Oakmont Regional High School for students from kindergarten aged students to those in the sixth grade. The extended day phone number is 827- 4701.