45°
Those injured were firefighters from Woodland Park and Totowa, a Woodland Park police officer and an employee at an auto detailing company where the fire apparently broke out, borough officials said during an impromptu news conference.
Besides temperatures that peaked at triple digits, firefighters also had to contend with utility wires to get ladder trucks in place to pour down on the flames below. They quickly succeeded in getting the blaze under control.
Misting tents and a services truck operated by Franklin Lakes firefighters were set up to help hydrate the emergency workers.
Totowa firefighters and their colleagues from Woodland Park were digging a trench to try and keep the fire from spreading when it suddenly broke through, hours into the operation, an emergency worker at the scene told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The Woodland Park and Totowa departments were joined by their colleagues from Clifton, Little Falls, North Haledon, Passaic, Paterson and Wayne.
The blaze apparently began in a stack of cardboard boxes on pallets behind the building. Flames quickly spread to the roof and then dropped into the building, an emergency worker at the scene said.
The 9,000-square-foot building most recently housed Gourmet Foods Inc., which since 1986 has supplied food to the hospitality, airline and institutional food service industries.
The fire is believed to have started at a car detailing company in the complex just before 2:30 p.m., those at the scene told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
PHOTO ABOVE: Courtesy Tom Contrino
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