United States (New Jersey) - A blaze that destroyed a vacant chemical building in Lodi, kept firefighters busy for parts of two days on June 23 to 24th. Shortly before 5:00 PM, the Lodi Fire Department was dispatched to Garabaldi Ave, and Meta Lane for a report of a fire. Almost simultaneously, Hackensack Engine 2 received a verbal report of a fire from a passer-by and had Headquarters dispatch a full assignment. Units from both departments arrived to find fire in the rear of the vacant Interplast Universal Industries building. The fire building is in Lodi so all Hackensack units except E-2 were returned.

The fire building was a large one story commercial structure with a two-story office area in the front. Flames and heavy smoke had control of the rear of the building and was slowly spreading forward. Mutual aid was immediately called. The building had been vacant for about ten years and was not structurally in good condition. The roof in the fire area collapsed soon after arrival and all operations went defensive. It is well known that there are small water mains in the area and water supply quickly became a problem. Additional resources were called to stretch to larger mains further away. As water became more plentiful, more lines were put in operation. Lodi’s tower operated from the rear and a ladder pipe from Garfield was put in operation from the exposure 2 side. Hasbrouck Heights put a ladder pipe to work from the front of the building as well as a deck gun from Lodi E-615 and several handlines. It appeared that progress was being made until the smoke condition from the second floor intensified about 9:30.

Rochelle Park’s tower and Wallington’s stick were set up as well as additional handlines as flames soon took hold of the second floor and broke through the roof.

After about a two-hour battle with the flames in the office section, all heavy fire was knocked down. Calls for additional manpower to rotate crews were made and as the night progressed, many of the units were released.

A flare up at about 6:00 AM once again brought mutual aid units to the scene. This time the fire was knocked down for good and construction equipment was brought in for demolition. No serious injuries were reported.

Written and photos by Bill Tompkins

Courtesy of BTFirePhotos