PLAINFIELD, N.J.-
The first sign this would not be a normal day at the Plainfield Fire Department came shortly after 8 a.m., when someone banged on the firehouse door, yelling, “The building next door is on fire!”
It soon got worse. The fire quickly went to five alarms, with flames leaping across the 15-foot-wide alley that separated the burning mattress warehouse from fire department headquarters.
Firefighters then realized they had two problems on their hands: trying to put out the blaze in the warehouse while protecting their own firehouse.
“It was weird; very weird,” Fire Chief Cecil Allen said.
But every firefighter on duty at the time was already busy battling the warehouse blaze.
“On the upper floors, windows started to crack from the intense heat, and on the first floor there was damage as well,” Allen said.
So it fell to firefighters from other towns, who responded under a mutual aid assistance pact, to protect the Plainfield firehouse.
“They pulled a hose inside to protect the interior,” he said. They soaked the interior rooms to keep them from igniting, and damage from the heat and water was limited, he said.
The firehouse is still inhabitable, although the department could not immediately estimate the cost of damages to the building.
The blaze, which broke out at about 8:10 a.m., destroyed a mattress storage warehouse near the downtown area.
No injuries were reported in the fire, which took nearly 100 firefighters from throughout Union County to bring under control.
There was no immediate word on what started the fire. Isaac Solomon, who owns Rex Bedding and whose warehouse was destroyed, said the business was closed at the time and none of his 35 employees were scheduled to be inside, adding he had no idea how it might have started.
“It’s very sad,” he said. “So sudden and unexpected.”
Plainfield Fire Capt. Jeff Courtney said a passer-by first alerted authorities to the nearby blaze.
“A passer-by banged on the door of the firehouse and said ‘The building next door is on fire!” he said.
