Wayne, NJ – Sprinkler system helps contain fire caused by pallet full of rubber pellets; No injuries reported

All five Wayne volunteer fire companies responded to a structure fire at the Royal Adhesive plant on Burgess Place in Wayne on Friday afternoon.  

Royal Adhesive is a commercial plant that manufactures specialty adhesive products that are used in all industries.  “This site houses numerous hazardous products and always put the Fire Department and EMS on guard when we are called to the site,” said Bob Minnarick the Wayne Fire Commissioner. 

Initially, Wayne Fire Companies 1 and 2 were summoned by the first alarm, but as more calls came, reporting smoke coming from the building, a second alarm was raised and Fire Companies 3 and 5 came to the scene.  Once it was confirmed that there was a sprinkler activation in the plant and two pull stations were activated, Wayne went to a third alarm activating Company 4. 

At the same time the Wayne Special Response Team (SRT) the Hazmat team was activated. 

The Royal Adhesive management team informed the Fire Department that the substances in the area of the fire were not hazardous materials which made the job easier for the volunteers. 

With the help of the in-house sprinkler system, the fire was extinguished in thirty minutes.  The burning pallets of rubber pellets was extinguished and subsequently removed from the production area. 

The sprinkler company responded to the scene and replaced the activated heads and recharge the system.  The alarm system was able to be reset and placed back into operation.  The fire was declared under control at 2:11pm.  The last fire unit cleared the scene at 3:43pm. 

Ten pieces of apparatus responded to the scene and Company 4 stood by  for coverage.  There were no injuries and approximately forty firefighters responded to the scene.