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.
