A massive fire broke out at the Qualco Warehouse in Passaic, NJ on Friday night. Passaic Mayor, Hector Loya, urged residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed. The fire involved one facility that makes furniture and one facility that produces and stores chlorine for swimming pools.
Mayor Loya warned the public of possible evacuations should the fire reach the portion of the warehouse that stores the greatest concentration of chlorine. “I have to be clear if that gets to that area we will be looking at potential mass evacuations of the area and of course because of the smoke and the toxic fumes, it would endanger the lungs of not only the residents in Passaic, but those in Bergen, Essex County and surrounding areas. We won’t be able to fully inspect [the scene] until fire is completely put out. It may take some time to establish cause. Main issue with chlorine fire is wind.”
More than 200 firefighters worked through the weekend to control the fire and prevent a catastrophic chemical disaster. They were able to prevent the blaze from reaching a storage area that holds as much as 3 million pounds of chemicals on an average day. The Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection are continuing to monitor the scene.
