Massive 11-alarm Passaic chemical plant fire has been contained, building collapsed
With the fear of a potential chemical explosion goading them on, several hundred firefighters battled soaring flames, frigid temperatures and iced equipment to knock down a massive fire at a site in Passaic packed with hazardous substances Friday and Saturday, helping avert a larger disaster.
While the flames engulfed about 100,000 pounds of chlorine in one building and an official put damages to the facilities of Majestic Industries and Qualco Inc. — which makes pool treatment supplies — at more than $15 million, firefighters managed to keep the inferno from spreading to an area where far larger amounts of chlorine and other materials were stored.
“This fire could have reached the main chemical plant and we could have been looking at a potential mass evacuation,” said Passaic Mayor Hector Lora, who called the firefighters’ all-night efforts “heroic.”
“They are the reason why this fire did not reach the main chemical plant where the highest concentration of chlorine is located,” Lora said.
Lora said he was particularly thankful because the COVID-19 pandemic would have made it difficult to house hundreds of evacuated residents. “Where would we take everybody?” Lora said. “Where could we appropriately accommodate them in the midst of the pandemic?”
Fulltime Passaic firefighters were joined by volunteer firefighters from dozens of surrounding communities to attack the 11-alarm blaze, which was initially called in as a car fire shortly after 8 p.m. Friday and eventually sent so much black smoke billowing into the air that it was detected on weather radar.
With the threat of the fire reaching the 3 million pounds of potentially hazardous substances stored daily at the site, firefighters raced to douse the flames even as the frigid overnight conditions froze hoses and hydrants and made walking on frozen ice treacherous.
By late Saturday, wisps of gray smoke continued to rise from the site, where only a shell remained of a three-story, 300- by 400-foot brick building that had been used to store plastics, pallets and some chlorine, said Passaic Fire Chief Patrick Trentacost.
On Saturday afternoon, firefighters from Ho-Ho-Kus, Oradell, River Edge and Waldwick doused the remaining flames with water from half a dozen fire hoses.
The water froze when it hit the building’s brick façade, draping glassless window frames in curtains of ice and building frosted caverns inside the burned out husk.
Firefighters also sent drenching arcs of water onto the smoldering ruins from the ladders of several aerial trucks extended into the sky.
Trentacost said three Passaic firetrucks on the scene were frozen in ice Saturday afternoon as temperatures remained below 20 degrees. Firefighters used flares to try to keep hydrants from freezing.
Passaic Fire Lt. Jonathan Pearson said old industrial buildings along the Passaic River are often at risk of fire.
“It’s the perfect storm,” Pearson said. “It’s nice and crisp, there’s no moisture in the air, something ignites and you get a little bit of wind in there and it takes off. Especially old mills like this that are saturated with liquids and grease … by the time you get there, you’re already behind the eight ball.”
Trentacost said that on Saturday some fire remained in the basement underneath the collapsed roof. “It was a total collapse of a three-story building,” he said.
Lora said only one worker, a security guard, was in the building when the fire started. That person was unharmed, he said. None of company’s other employees has been hurt.
“One firefighter was sent to the hospital with a laceration to the face,” Trentacost said. “He was treated and released. We had about 14 to 16 firefighters slip and fall with bruises, twisted ankles — all minor.”
Exacerbating the firefighting effort, the Passaic Fire Department has struggled recently with COVID infections, which appear to be falling after a rocky holiday season in which almost half of the 106-member department fell ill.
“If this fire had occurred two weeks ago, it would have been a lot more challenging,” Lora said.
Officials won’t be able to start investigating the cause of the fire until the blaze is completely extinguished, he said.
In a statement posted on its website, Qualco thanked first responders and agencies involved in battling the fire. “We greatly appreciate your efforts and the way in which you mitigated a very difficult situation,” the statement said. “Qualco has been operating safely in Passaic for over 30 years and is committed to serving its customers in the pool and spa industries.”
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According to a Dun & Bradstreet business directory, Qualco, Inc. has 50 employees and generates $25.45 million in sales.
The 3 million pounds of potentially hazardous substances often stored at the Qualco site on an average day range from industrial disinfectants to bleaching agents, according to a 2020 inventory list sent to state regulators.
The Passaic Fire Department had used the Qualco facility in the 1990s to practice dealing with large scale chemical fires and spills.
Majestic Industries made furniture and other items for gaming sites, such as casinos, restaurants and billiard parlors, Lora said.
A state Treasury Department database indicates that Qualco was incorporated in 1986 and Majestic Industries in 1998. Peter Ferentinos was listed as president of both companies, and John Ferentinos as the vice president of Qualco.
A man who said he was Peter Ferentinos, reached at his home in Smithtown, New York, on Saturday, said: “There’s nothing I can say. You folks know more about the fire than I do. Thank you,” and then hung up.
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The state Department of Environmental Protection remained on site Saturday to monitor air quality. During the fire, the DEP conducted roaming air monitoring for chlorine and found the results to be within acceptable levels.
They were assisted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which set up five air monitors to measure for chlorine and other contaminants, and provided real-time data to the DEP.
What was stored there?:Site of Passaic chemical fire housed up to 3M pounds of potentially hazardous substances
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During the height of the blaze, large embers started to float through the sky from the site across the Passaic River south into Wallington, setting small fires in yards. Wallington Police Chief Carmello Imbruglia said Wallington firefighters tried to keep a wall of water sprayed out over the Passaic to keep the embers from landing in yards. He said one ember that landed was a foot long.
The blaze was reminiscent of the infamous 1985 Labor Day fire that tore through about 20% of Passaic’s industrial base. The fire incinerated 21 century-old factories and 17 apartment buildings as well as homes in the Lower Dundee area of the city.
Despite the cold temperatures, January fires have ravaged North Jersey in recent years. A massive fire destroyed the Atlantic Coast Fibers recycling plant on Jan. 30 last year. Firefighters braved the brutal cold overnight and into the next day to put out the fire, which engulfed an entire city block and veiled the city’s skyline with smoke. There were at least two explosions.
“Last year around this same time we had one of the biggest fires in the city’s history at the recycling plant,” Lora said. “This time of year always poses challenges. I encourage people to use caution when using space heaters or plugging things into outlets using extension cords.”
Two years earlier, on Jan. 30, 2019, the landscape of nearby Elmwood Park was changed forever when a 10-alarm blaze leveled the historic Marcal Paper Mill. By the end of the night, 30 of the 36 structures on the site were either damaged or destroyed. The Marcal sign that colored the Elmwood Park portion of Route 80 a tint of red for decades was famously destroyed as well.
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.’s office said he is looking into any federal assistance that might be available to Passaic. “Winter fires are some of the worst and most terrifying our communities deal with,” Pascrell said in a statement. “I’ve been praying for our neighbors in Passaic.”
Staff writers Katie Sobko and Abbott Koloff contributed to this story.
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