Carelessness Caused $10 Million New Jersey Fire
FIRE REPORTS
FEATURES
Photo by Ron Jeffers
Workers who were using 55gallon drums filled with burning trash to keep warm, sparked a spectacular fire that destroyed several buildings and damaged many others in the riverfront city of Hoboken, NJ. The demolition workers were using the burning drums because of strong winds and near freezing temperatures. They were in the process of tearing down a large wood frame warehouse when a fire began on the morning of January 15,1985.
Hoboken is situated on the Hudson River opposite New York City. It is a densely populated metropolis of over 40,000 people in a one square mile area. Most buildings are closely spaced creating conditions that would allow a fire to escalate into a conflagration very quickly.
The Hoboken Fire Department has an on-duty force of 26 firefighters operating four engine and two truck companies.
The building of fire origin, 808822 Monroe Street, was a large three-story wood frame warehouse that measured 100 X 50 feet. Because it was in the process of being demolished, the building was being sheathed with untreated asphalt shingles and had a disconnected sprinkler system. Since the building was a source of concern for firefighters, pre-plans had been created.
THE FIRE
Box alarm 512 was transmitted by Hoboken’s fire alarm dispatch at 9:51 a.m. Responding on the alarm were two engines, a truck company, and Chief McDonald. Arriving units found the frame warehouse heavily involved in fire. Flames were showing on three floors along the entire Monroe Street side of the building. Upon arrival, the chief ordered simultaneous second and third alarms, which brought two additional engines and a ladder to the scene.
Of immediate concern to the incident commander was an occupied, five-story 50 X 100-foot mill that adjoined the burning warehouse. The two buildings shared a common elevator shaft, and fire was quickly spreading into the mill.
The mill, located at 824-830 Monroe Street, contained many workers who were attempting to exit onto the Monroe Street side of the building. Radiant heat and burning power transformers forced workers back into the plant. Members from Ladder Company 2 led the plant workers to safety through an exit on the Ninth Street side of the building.
Chief McDonald’s initial strategy was a defensive-offensive effort to contain the fire rather than attempt to attack the large body of fire. Three conditions brought him to this decision: 1) Extreme radiant heat did not allow close proximity to the main body of fire, 2) winds in excess of 40 mph were blowing convection currents toward other nearby structures, and 3) large burning embers were being carried over other parts of the city.
Photo by Bob Pressler
As the second and third alarm companies were arriving, McDonald transmitted a general alarm. This would bring all off-duty firefighters to the scene. He also began to request mutual aid assistance from surrounding cities.
The fire continued to move very rapidly. It began to take hold in the five-story mill. Attempts to supply the mill’s sprinkler system were futile because the system was shared by two buildings: the mill and the wood-frame building where the fire began. The system had been shut down while demolition proceeded on the wooden warehouse.
Intense radiant heat soon ignited an adjacent three-story wood-frame warehouse at 800-802 Monroe Street. This building, measuring 100 X 25 feet, became fully involved very quickly and added to the source of radiant heat threat to other buildings. Several one-story sheds and storage buildings at the rear of the involved buildings were also ignited.
Due to pre-planning, Chief McDonald knew that the water mains in the immediate vicinity to the fire were only 8 inches in diameter. As pumpers began to use them to capacity, McDonald had incoming mutual aid companies take water from hydrants near Madison Street where 16-inch mains were present. He also requested specialized pieces of apparatus. One was a five-inch, large diameter hose, reel wagon from the Jersey City Fire Department. The reel could supply large amounts of water with minimal friction loss in a small amount of space. Water tankers from other towns were also requested as a precaution.
In addition to bringing mutual aid companies to the scene, Chief McDonald sent additional companies to man empty Hoboken fire stations. During the course of the fire, they responded to 16 investigation calls (smoke, embers), which proved to be unfounded. They also responded to brush fires caused by flying brands.
Two companies were placed on brand patrol downwind looking for possible incipient fires. Along the Hudson River waterfront, nearly a mile from the fire scene, embers ignited a barge at the docks. The barge, used in the filming of the movie “On The Waterfront,” required the efforts of a Coast Guard fireboat and a New York City Department fireboat to extinguish it.
The Chief of Hoboken’s Fire Department, James Houn, arrived about 15 minutes after the first alarm and assumed command of the fire. A few other deputy chiefs from other divisions (training, etc.) also arrived on the scene. Each chief assumed command of a different sector of the fire scene.
Photo by Bob Pressler
Large amounts of radiant heat continued to be emitted from the fire. Seventy-seven automobiles parked across the street from the main body of fire were destroyed. This parking lot acted as a fire break and limited the lateral spread of fire in this direction.
Companies moved inside two exposed structures to protect themselves from the extending fire’s threat. One building was a fivestory, 100 X 75-foot mill containing a Venetian blind manufacturer. This building, located on Monroe Street, had a large number of wired glass windows that helped to absorb the thermal stresses placed on the glass. The other building on Monroe Street was a two-story brick joist structure. Several plain glass windows were present with the added problem of having fiberboard panels covering some of them.
Firefighters operating in these two exposed buildings stretched handlines inside to wet down exposed combustibles, as well as supply lines to feed the sprinkler Siamese. An innovative action was taken when pike poles were used to remove the sprinkler links from the last head on each branch line. This created a water curtain and wetted the exposed combustibles near the windows. These combined efforts saved the structures and much of the contents.
Radiant heat also damaged a twostory structure on Monroe Street and a three-story building containing garments on Eighth Street. Embers damaged two small 20 X 50-foot block buildings at 810 and 812 Madison Street. Number 812 contained a pistol range with several rounds of ammunition. A church rectory at 704 Jefferson Street had its clay tile roof damaged by brands. A two-story frame garage containing hay was totally destroyed when embers entered through open windows on the second floor.
After the collapse of the woodframe warehouse where the fire began, companies were able to move close and begin an offensive attack on the fire. This also helped to reduce the flying ember problems encountered earlier. Master streams and ladder pipes were used to accomplish this objective.
At 3:37 p.m., the fire was declared under control. As night fell, so did the temperatures. The winds continued to blow, and bitter cold set in. Ice conditions made firefighting even more hazardous.
Companies continued to operate for several hours as hot spots flared up sporadically. Portions of burning materials buried under rubble continued to smolder for quite some time.
SUMMARY
Operations at this fire involved several factors. The conclusions are summarized below:
- Pre-planning of the incident. Knowledge of the structures and water supply led to more efficient operations.
- Weather conditions. Winds and cold temperatures had significant impact on firefighting at this incident. Relief of members was needed on a more frequent basis.
- The presence of a large wood frame structure posed tremendous radiant heat and brand problems, necessitating extensive exposure protection. The relatively small distance between surrounding exposures was a major factor in fire extension.
- Water supply inadequacies. Because they were aware of the hydrant grid system in the area, incident commanders were able to adjust water supply as the incident grew more demanding. This ability again strengthened the value of pre-planning.
- Large diameter hose. Its ability to deliver great amounts of water over significant distances was invaluable. Reduced hose stretches saved valuable manpower needs.
- Communications and mutual aid coordination. The presence of a mutual aid network and mutual aid frequency streamlined operations.
- Sector commands allowed the incident commander to get “the whole picture.”
- Reviewed the need for greater supervision and record keeping of the status of auxiliary fire-protection systems. The unserviceability of the existing sprinkler system, not only in the building under demolition but in the occupied exposures due to the interconnected supply source, was one of the largest factors contributing flame spread to exposures.
