ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. -- A five-alarm blaze at the Marcal paper plant burned for six hours before firefighters were able to bring it under control early Monday morning.
The flames sparked in paper dust that collected in a six-inch space between an older wooden roof and the outer roof of corrugated fiberglass and tar. Though it burned so hot firefighters could only work in 20-minute shifts, the fire was contained in the roof and the building was not destroyed, officials said.
The fire was not deemed suspicious, but the exact cause has not been determined, fire Chief Mike Sulik said.
Marcal, which manufactures paper towels, toilet paper and other products, was sold in April for an undisclosed sum to Soundview Paper Co., an affiliate of Atlas Holdings of Greenwich, Conn.
A company representative could not be reached Monday to answer questions about how the fire might affect operations at the plant.
Soundview had threatened to move Marcal to South Carolina at the expense of the 509 jobs here, but the company said it would stay in New Jersey after it was awarded $25 million in tax breaks in exchange for a $47 million investment upgrading the plant.
A full shift was working at the plant when the fire broke out around 8 p.m. Sunday night, officials said. Eventually firefighters from 17 different communities were called to help.
Firefighters had to cut through the first layer of roof to get at the flames below. "But it stayed ahead of us." Sulik said.
The temperature on the roof was intense. Compounding the heat from the flames was the machinery, which can heat up to about 150 degrees, Sulik said. Firefighter crews had to be rotated every 20 minutes so they could cool off before they were allowed to go back to the roof.
This is the second fire at the plant this year. The plant's fire brigade extinguished a fire in March, which ignited in one of the paper machines.
Copyright 2012 - The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
