December 26, 2008 - 3-Alarms - Box 5157 - Tour 1
82 Foundry Street between Ferry Street & Routes 1&9
Photos by Ron Jeffers

Shortly after 19:30 hours, Newark fire dispatchers received two calls for heavy smoke coming from the windows of a factory on Foundry Street, near Ferry Street. At 19:33 hours, Box 5157 was transmitted, rolling Engines 16-5-27-14, Trucks 8-4, Battalion 5, Deputy 1, and Rescue 1 to the scene.

On arrival, Engine 16 reported a working fire in a large, one-story brick factory. Fifth Battalion Chief Kevin Killeen relates: “When I got there, we had a one-story brick, about 300-by-500 feet, with heavy smoke rolling out the entire rear half of the building. I knew I was gonna bang a second, but I wanted to try and get a quick size-up on the building.”

Killeen report a Signal 11 at 19:39 hours, indicating the entire first alarm assignment was being put to work. This brought Truck 11, as the FAST Team, and Battalion 3, as the Incident Safety Officer, to the scene.

Chief Killeen further relates: “We tried to make efforts to get into the place, but I saw we weren’t gonna make it and ordered an exterior attack. Suddenly, there was just a massive rollover and the whole back of the building took off!”

At 19:41 hours, Killeen ordered a second alarm, bringing Engines 7-9-11-6, Truck 1, and Battalion 3 into the battle.

The building was occupied at the time of the fire, and was used primarily as a place where parts were stripped from junk cars and stored, and shipped overseas. It is believed the building, at one time, was occupied by a firm that manufactured poles.

Multiple master streams were put into operation, but an inadequate water supply hindered initial firefighting operations.

At 19:57 hours, Deputy Chief Ed Rydzewski struck a third alarm, rolling Engines 10-12-18, and Truck 7. These companies were used in an attempt to augment the water supply by bringing in water from distant hydrants.

By now, the fire had full possession of the building, sending a towering column of flames into the night sky. Fire alarm was kept busy with a flood of phone calls from motorists traveling along Routes 1&9, which is separated from the side of the building by railroad tracks. While the callers could plainly see the flames, they couldn’t see firefighters were already on the scene. The fire gave passing motorists quite a show, but there was no danger to the highway, and it was kept open.

Ron Jeffers, who took the excellent photos shown here, relates: “Was like the old days. A Friday night… coming off the Turnpike… and in front of me was the sign for Raymond Boulevard, and nothing but flames in the darkness!”

At 20:25 hours, Engine 15 was special-called to the scene for ember patrol. The area is predominantly industrial, with large areas of brush interspersed among the properties. Engine 15 was later re-directed to a hydrant in the Cineplex movie lot where they took the hydrant and fed a supply line that had been hooked to it.

Chief Killeen recalls: “There were some small explosions taking place during the fire, which were due to truck tires and fuel tanks blowing. But then, there was this mini-BLEVE, which we figured were the propane tanks that were used for the forklifts.”

The concentration of heavy streams took their toll on the flames, knocking down most of the fire in the rear, but there was still heavy fire in the front portion of the building.

At 22:37 hours, Chief Rydzewski declared the fire under control, but companies spent the night wetting down the smoldering remains.

To give one an idea of the scope of the blaze, at some point during the fire, a progress report was being given by a chief officer, which went something like, “…we have heavy fire; making an exterior attack; I have two deck guns working… <mumbles> I could use 20…“