Residents evacuated by warehouse fire wait to return home as site still

“It started in the center of the building into the warehouse section”, Fire Chief Donald Salzmann said.

Some flames and thick white smoke could still be seen Thursday at the 85-year-old warehouse on the 1600 block of Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick as firefighters worked to douse hot spots at the 1 million square-foot structure.

Officials had not detected any risky levels of toxins, Mayor Francis Womac III said.

About 75 people remain in a shelter as a precaution.

The fire is not completely out, however, and residents should continue to expect discoloration of water and lower water pressure. The tankers are running a water shuttle from a nearby lake.

A large warehouse fire in New Jersey which was fuelled by plastics, vehicles and household goods, sent plumes of black smoke into the air that were visible from space.

“We will be here through the night and into tomorrow”, North Brunswick Fire Chief Don Salzman said during a noon press conference. The cause remains unknown.

New Jersey Fire Safety Committee Chairman and Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-19), a long-time advocate of indoor sprinkler and fire suppression systems in one and two-family homes, says that the incident demonstrates the bravery and effectiveness of local fire fighters.

Residents of a nearby apartment building were ordered to leave after heat from the blaze set the siding on fire. Others were moved as a precaution over fears of potential toxins being released from burning plastic.

Officials were monitoring air quality and would continue to check the smoke for any health threats, Dwayne Harrington of the Environmental Protection Administration said.

Most of a massive fire that tore through a New Jersey warehouse is under control, officials say, but evacuated residents still have not been allowed to return to their homes.

Firefighters from Middlesex, Monmouth, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Morris counties responded to the scene as smoke billowed, forming a cloud visible for many miles. Some video of the warehouse a day after the fire:The five-alarm fire broke out just after 2:30 a.m. inside the DCH Collision Center on Livingston Avenue.

He said more than 100 fire companies assisted it fighting the fire, with engines coming from 11 New Jersey counties as well as from Pennsylvania.

Authorities have evacuated part of the nearby Hearthwood apartment complex as a precaution, and those residents can use an elementary school as a shelter.