"It was 28 years of my life," said Feintuch, who has worked as the town’s recreation director since 1972. " I had a lot of pictures, plaques, scrapbooks dating back to the early 1970s destroyed by water and the heat. It’s heartbreaking to see the building go down, because I had great memories in there."

A six-alarm fire destroyed the nearly 50-year-old building that housed the municipal offices and the Police and Fire departments. It came a day after a plane crash in a nearby residential neighborhood that killed the four people aboard.

The two incidents have left many in town shaken.

"For a small town to have two calamities like this is shocking. But we are going to rebound. Life goes on," Feintuch said.

By Monday morning, temporary muinicipal offices were in operation at the old Franklin School gym, across the street from the municipal building. Borough employees sat at long tables underneath a basketball net, manning the phones.

Borough Administrator Michael Kronyak praised the Fire Department, the Police Department, and municipal employees "for withstanding all that has been thrown at them over the past few days."

"I haven’t seen people pull together like this for a long time," Kronyak said.

Many borough employees were able to retrieve valuable items from the gutted building, including computers, accounting sysytems, budget and tax collection information, and documents dating back to 1894, Kronyak said. Most of the town’s vital records were saved.

Kronyak said he is confident the town will be able to offer all its usual services, adding, "We’re getting a job done we never expected to have to do."

Police are not yet certain of the cause of the fire, but foul play is not suspected, according to Detective Lt. William Castiglione.

Officials believe an electrical problem on the second floor may have caused the fire. No information has been released about estimated damages, or whether the building can be restored.

Borough officials were already looking for office space to temporarily house the municipal headquarters.

But the adjustment will be difficult for many longtime employees.

Marilyn deRussy, registrar of vital statistics, is attempting to recreate her Rolodex and files in a spiral notebook. She cannot conduct business until new forms are sent from Trenton to replace those that were destroyed.

"We’re trying to get ourselves back in business, she said. "I don’t know yet exactly how much was lost. We have to wait for the crane to come so we can see what’s left."

DeRussy, who has worked for the town for 24 years, had tears in her eyes as she spoke of the fire. " I have spent more waking hours there than at my home" she said. "I was in shock that this could ever happen."

"Now we’re all pulling together to make it work again," she said.

For some departments, that means moving to odd locations.

The Fire Department has been relocated to Kundert Volvo on Terrace Avenue, and the Police Department is operating out of a small white trailer next to the gym.

Despite the latest turn of events, police are conducting business as usual, Police Chief Mike Colaneri said.

"We’ve been responding to calls; we have the same manpower on the street," Colaneri said. "All that’s changed is that we are dispatching from this motor home."

But after witnessing two calamitiers within a 24-hour period, some residents are nervous that more bad luck will befall the town.

Among them is Alide Bruno, a resident of the senior housing complex across the street form Borough Hall, who watched the building go up in a blaze Friday.