Water Issues Hamper Crews at Fire in Vacant Paterson, NJ, Chemical Factory
Brent Johnson
nj.com
(TNS)
A massive fire broke out at an abandoned chemical factory in Paterson late Friday night, with large flames and plumes of smoke rising into the sky and crews from throughout Passaic County working overnight to stop it.
The five-alarm blaze began around 11 p.m. at the one-story, 200-by-300-foot building, a former dye manufacturing plant of the Galaxie Chemical Corporation. The property is located on East Main Street, according to the Paterson Firefighters Association.
“The incident quickly went to three alarms, and eventually to additional alarms due to water supply issues in the area,” the association said.
Large flames ripped through the facility as firefighters on a crane doused it with water, according to photos from the Hawthorne Fire Department and other social media users.
The fire department in nearby Wayne said its crew was redirected from another fire in Paterson to help, according to a Facebook post.
The vacant warehouse has been deemed a Superfund site. In 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Protection found hundreds of drums of chemicals at the facility in the wake of multiple fires at the property.
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