Tag Archives: New Jersey

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Wood-Ridge, NJ – Sprinkler system contains fire at pizza restaurant

A fire in the basement of a popular pizza restaurant was quickly put out by the Wood-Ridge Fire Department Monday morning.

The Wood-Ridge Fire Department was alerted to the fire by a central station monitored smoke detector system which covers 251B through 255 Valley Boulevard, according to Wood-Ridge Chief of Department Kenneth Schulz.

Upon arrival of Fire Chief officers, an employee of the Empanada Shop reported smoke in the basement of his establishment.

The Chief officers found a working fire in the basement of the adjoining business, Emilia Romagna Restaurant. A fire sprinkler system in this basement kept the fire contained until first arriving Wood-Ridge Fire Department companies aggressively extinguished the fire preventing further spread, said Schulz.

The fire has closed Emilia Romagna indefinitely, according to Schulz. There was minor smoke damage to the businesses at 251 B and 251A Valley Blvd.

The one block stretch of Valley Boulevard, from Marlboro Road to Windsor Road, was closed for most of the day.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Arson Squad.

Mutual aid fire departments assisting on the second alarm at the scene were Carlstadt, Hasbrouck Heights, and Wallington. Little Ferry, Lodi, and Moonachie covered Wood-Ridge headquarters and responded to a second fire alarm in another part of town.

The Italian restaurant anchors the stretch of stores which includes a butcher, physical therapy office, nail salon, convenience store, juice bar, and several other restaurants.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Lakewood, NJ – Sprinkler system activated for structure fire

Authorities & neighboring departments are responding to 1985 Rutgers University Boulevard for a reported working structure fire. This building is home to several tenants inside the Industrial Park- and the Lakewood Fire Department is on scene investigating. Ocean County fire Marshall has been called in- along with the FAST team. Officials on scene reporting the activated sprinkler system knocked down much of the fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

Red Bank, NJ – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

The sprinkler system at the River Street Commons senior housing complex in Red Bank prevented possible tragedy Thursday afternoon.

The fire-suppression system doused a fire in the living room of a first-floor apartment, with follow-up effort by volunteer firefighters who answered the 12:15 p.m. alarm, said Chief Bobby Holiday.

No injuries occurred, he said.

As of 12:40 p.m., the cause of the fire was under investigation, and it remained to be determined if the apartment would be immediately habitable, Holiday said.

The three-story River Street Commons, bounded by Shrewsbury and Bridge avenues at Catherine Street, occupies the former River Street School building.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Pennsauken, NJ – Sprinkler system contains warehouse fire

Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at Sonoco Corp. on Aug. 27, the second fire at the same facility reported this year.

The Monmouth Junction Fire Department was dispatched to the Sonoco Corp. at 5 Stults Road off Route 130 in the Dayton section of South Brunswick for a fire alarm activation around 8 p.m. Aug. 27.

Shortly after receiving the call from the alarm company reporting the fire alarm, employees from the business called 9-1-1 and reported an active fire in the warehouse, according to information provided by the South Brunswick Police Department.

Monmouth Junction Fire Chief Scott Smith and Deputy Chief Sean Wert arrived to find a heavy smoke condition inside the building, according to reports.

Firefighters stretched hoselines inside and located palletized goods on fire, which was quickly contained, according to the statement.

A total of 10 fire trucks and over 50 firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire, including firefighters from Monmouth Junction, Kendall Park, Kingston, Jamesburg, Plainsboro, North Brunswick Co. No. 2, Monroe Fire District No. 3 and Hightstown.

Several large trailer-mounted fans from the Edison Fire Department were used to help ventilate the smoke condition created by burning plastic and cardboard.

Firefighters from Brookview, East Brunswick District No. 1, Griggstown and Montgomery Fire Co. No. 2 covered South Brunswick fire stations during the incident.

Ambulances from South Brunswick, North Brunswick and Monroe responded to the fire.

One firefighter was treated at the scene for heat stress and transported to Princeton hospital as a precaution, according to the statement.

“Fortunately, the sprinkler system contained the fire to several palletized stacks of goods in the warehouse,” Smith said in the statement. “It was a humid evening, so we had to rotate our firefighters frequently as they moved goods in the heavily packed warehouse in order to reach the seat of the fire to complete extinguishment. We even had firefighters operating fork-lifts to move unburned product.”

The fire is under investigation by the South Brunswick Township Fire Safety Bureau.

Retail, Shopping Mall

Woodbridge, NJ – Sprinkler system helps contain fire at mall; No injuries reported

The Woodbridge Center Mall was briefly evacuated Tuesday night after a small electrical fire broke out at Salad Bistro, located inside the mall.

All mall employees and everyone shopping inside was told to leave the mall immediately.

The fire was contained between the ansel system, the sprinkler system and a fire extinguisher; it was quickly extinguished, according to Amy Bellisano, general manager of the Woodbridge Center Mall.

Nobody was injured. All businesses inside the mall, except Salad Bistro, opened as normal on Wednesday. All the water was also cleaned up.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Caldwells, NJ – Sprinkler system activated for fire at university residence hall

A fire was extinguished at a Caldwell University residence hall on Monday, authorities said.

According to the Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department, their peers in West Caldwell got a call about an active fire alarm at the Mother Joseph Residence Hall at 5:17 p.m. The Caldwell Fire Department was immediately dispatched to the scene.

On arrival, firefighters found the alarm sounding and the building evacuated. Firefighters soon found “heavy smoke” coming from the second floor and an activated sprinkler system. Arriving fire crews stretched a line to extinguish the fire in the second floor recycling area, officials said.

Caldwell firefighters got mutual aid from Essex Fells, West Caldwell, Cedar Grove, North Caldwell, Roseland and the West Essex First Aid Squad.

All units were clear of the scene at 7:07 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation, authorities said.

Officials said that fire damage was limited to the room of origin, but smoke and water damage was found throughout the building.

“The sprinklers and fire alarm system did their job and kept the fire in check until fire units arrived to completely extinguish the fire,” Chief Andrew Pollara said.

Caldwell University staff relocated students to other residence halls on campus, authorities said.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

South Brunswick, NJ – Sprinkler system activated for warehouse fire; No injuries reported

A warehouse in South Brunswick Township caught on fire last night around 7 P.M. Over 50 firefighters arrived at the scene, including all three South Brunswick Companies (Monmouth Junction, Kingston & Kendall Park), Monroe Fire District 3, Jamesburg, Plainsboro and North Brunswick Fire Co. #2.

No one was injured in the fire, according to a press release. At 7:05 P.M., February 19th, South Brunswick police were alerted about a fire at the Sunoco Warehouse at 5 Stults Road near Route 130.

According to a preliminary investigation, the fire started due to the finished cardboard canisters manufactured by the facility which were stored on plastic pallets and shrink-wrapped, then stacked three pallets high. “Fortunately the sprinkler system and fire pump contained the fire to several stacks of the palletizing goods. Unfortunately, the fire and water caused several pallets to collapse, making it difficult for firefighters to locate and extinguish the seat of the fire,” said Monmouth Junction Fire Chief Scott Smith in a released statement.

At the time, fire hydrants on Stults Road were frozen. Firefighters used tankers from Cranbury, Jamesburg, Plainsboro and Monroe for water supply.

Crews were routinely rotated due to the intensive manpower to reach the seat of the fire 300 feet deep into the warehouse. It took several hours to ventilate the heavy smoke from the fire using large trailer-mounted fans from the Edison and Millstone Valley Fire Departments.

The fire is currently under investigation by the South Brunswick Township Fire Safety Bureau, according to a press release.

Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Glassboro, NJ – Fire sprinklers contain dorm fire after hoverboard catches fire

Rowan’s Emergency Medical Services and the Glassboro Fire Department responded to a reported fire at Holly Pointe Commons on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and transported one person for injuries due to the incident, according to Vernon Howery, the chief of Rowan University EMS.

According to Michael Kantner, the assistant vice president of public safety and office of emergency management, the fire occurred early in the morning around 1-2 a.m.

Vice President for University Relations Joe Cardona said the fire source was a hoverboard (self-balancing scooter). The Glassboro Fire Marshal’s Office is currently investigating the situation, as they do for every alarm; however, they wouldn’t comment on the definitive reason for the hoverboard’s fire. 

“[The hoverboard] is the crux of their investigation. They are looking at all avenues, and there haven’t been any determinations yet,” Kantner said.

Hoverboards are no stranger to fire departments around the United States. Since 2015, there have been many incidents involving their combustion. They are prohibited on school property by Rowan’s Housing Policy regarding engines. The United States International Trade Commission also prohibits them.

According to the Federal Register, in 2016 the International Trade Commission issued a ban on various hoverboard manufacturers due to patent claims made by Segway Inc. Many of the manufacturers listed are internationally based in countries that lack strict regulations on their products’ safety.

Purdue University’s school newspaper, The Exponent, documented a similar hoverboard fire on Sept. 14, 2020 inside one of their dorms Shreve Hall. Both Rowan and Purdue’s incidents occurred early in the morning. 

The sprinkler system in Holly Pointe caused water damage to the surrounding areas in the first floor B-pod. 

“Thank goodness for the sprinkler system, that fire was basically knocked down by the time the fire department showed up,” Kantner said. “They did sustain some water damage in the hallway of B-pod and in rooms adjacent to the incident location.” 

Currently there are no reports on the number of students and dorms affected by water damage. Rowan EMS reported only one individual requiring medical attention due to the fire, and their condition is unknown.

An update will be available at thewhitonline.com when and if appropriate.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant, Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Ocean City, NJ – fire sprinkler systems put out sixth floor fire at hotel and later that day extinguish fire at a condo

The Ocean City Fire Department had a busy day on Sunday with a fire at a downtown hotel in the afternoon and another at a residence later that evening.

Around 2:30 p.m. last Sunday, the Ocean City Fire Department (OCFD) responded to a fire alarm activation at the Stowaway Grand Hotel on 22nd Street. First-arriving firefighters located the hotel’s alarm panel and determined the source of the activation was on the fifth floor. Four OCFD firefighters operating in groups of two made their way to the fifth floor from inside the building and found a smoke and fire condition in an electrical closet.

OCFD spokesman Ryan Whittington said crews were able to put out that fire with dry chemical extinguishers and that firefighters wouldn’t use water in a fire of that type because it was electrical in nature. With that situation well in hand, Whittington said while on the fifth floor, firefighters were alerted to another potential fire on the sixth floor above.

The crews made their way to the sixth floor and found an active fire and smoke conditions. As firefighters were preparing to tackle that blaze, the hotel’s sprinkler system activated and put out the fire.

The entire situation was brought under control around 3:40 p.m. on Sunday, or a little over an hour after the first alarm activation. Whittington said the protocol for the fire department in that case was to send the high-rise package, which includes larger apparatus and equipment.

“Because the Stowaway Grand is considered a high-rise in terms of the number of floors, there are certain things we have to do,” he said. “We actually deployed our high-rise package, which includes the ladder trucks and larger apparatus equipped with a larger amount of hose and larger caliber hoses.”

Hundreds of hotel guests were evacuated during the incident, resulting in some quick thinking by the command staff.

“Battalion Chief David Peterson had command and he requested a city bus,” said Whittington. “There were hundreds of guests milling around and waiting to get back in, and having the bus there provided a place for them to sit down and relax in the air conditioning.”

Whittington said the fire department’s protocols and training prevented what could have been a much more serious situation.

“Everything worked like it should have,” he said. “To our guys’ credit, they really saved the building from much more damage.”

Hours later, the OCFD responded to another residential fire at a condominium on Trimper Avenue, according to Whittington.

“We arrived and found a heavy smoke condition on the first floor,” he said. “Crews made their way to the third floor and found a basket of blankets and other materials in a storage closet too close to a heat source and it combusted. We believe a light bulb might have started the fire, but it is still under investigation. In that incident, the condo’s sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire.”

Retail, Shopping Mall

Hackensack, NJ – Garbage fire put out by fire sprinkler system at mall; No injuries reported

A garbage fire cleared The Shops at Riverside mall in Hackensack on Tuesday afternoon, though the flames were quickly extinguished by the mall’s sprinkler system, said Capt. Justin Derevyanik of the Hackensack Fire Department.

Heavy smoke still lingered an hour and a half after the fire was put out, and shoppers remained outside the mall waiting to go back in.

The flames broke out just before 1:45 p.m. when cardboard and other trash ignited inside the compactor, which is under the parking garage in the rear of the building.

Derevyanik said the fire was contained to the compactor but some smoke seeped into the shopping mall.

There were no injuries, and Derevyanik expected crews to finish resetting the alarm system in time to allow customers back inside by about 4 p.m.

The fire remained under investigation.