Firefighters Battle Large Blaze at Passaic Chemical Plant in New Jersey (+Video)

One of the facilities at the plant reportedly has a major chlorine stockpile.

More than 200 firefighters continued to battle an 11-alarm chemical fire that sent one to the hospital early Saturday morning.

Frigid temperatures caused runoff water to freeze and create even more hazards for first responders from three counties, North Jersey News reported.

Mayor Hector Lora said that the bulk of the fire, which began around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, is in the Majestic Industries portion of the property but that part has also spread to the Qualco chemical plant at 225 Passaic St.

Lora, who took to Facebook Live throughout the night with updates, said the fire was in multiple buildings and that they expected to lose the whole structure.

"There have been bad fires but this is the worst that I've ever seen," he said.

Passaic Fire Chief Patrick Trentacost said that the building where the fire started, which is along the river, has collapsed in on itself. It was vacant but was being used to store plastics, pallets and some chlorine.

He also said that the firefighters are drafting water from the river to supplement the water that they are using.

The smoke was so significant that it was being picked up by radar from the National Weather Service as it spread across northern New Jersey and off the coast.

Residents were being evacuated from the immediate area of the blaze and advised anyone nearby to close their windows. Passaic Street from First Street to Main Avenue was closed to traffic as well as Route 21 in both directions.

The overwhelming scent of smoke and chemicals, particularly chlorine was enough to make people's eyes water as far away as Wallington after the wind shifted at about 10 p.m. Large embers and sprays of water are also floating across the river.

The company housed more than two dozen chemicals on site in 2020 with a daily inventory ranging from 500 pounds of sodium hexametaphosphate to 500,000 pounds of the industrial disinfectant trichloroisocyanuric acid, according to the latest “Community Right to Know” data on hazardous substances from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

According to a 2016 safety datasheet on the website paspdirect.com, Qualco had several chemicals on site including aluminum chlorhydrate and 1,2-Ethanediamine that were the ingredients to a product called “Liquid Floc Rite“ that settles unfilterable substances like algae to the pool floor to be vacuumed. The report says it can cause serious eye damage and skin irritation.

Chlorine gas can be deadly and was used as a chemical weapon during the First World War. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms of chlorine exposure can include difficulty breathing, vomiting, blisters, blurred vision, and a burning sensation in the nose, mouth, and eyes.

The blaze was reminiscent of the infamous 1985 Labor Day fire that tore through about 20 percent of Passaic's industrial base. The fire incinerated 21 century-old factories and 17 apartment buildings as well as homes in the Lower Dundee area of the city.