Massive fire in Belleville, N.J., prompts state of emergency and shuts down schools

Black smoke was seen over Belleville, New Jersey, on Sunday after a multi-alarm fire at a commercial building burned for hours, officials said.

Crews from multiple townships converged on a mattress warehouse at 347 Cortlandt St., where the blaze started at around 3 p.m. and grew to nine alarms by 5:30 p.m.

There have been no reports of any injuries. But despite that good news, Mayor Michael Melham declared a state of emergency Sunday night due to high winds and low water pressure.

As of Monday morning, it is still an active scene, according to police. 

"Emergency personnel are still working, and smoke will continue to be visible throughout the surrounding area," a social media post read. "Please avoid the area if possible to allow first responders to operate safely and efficiently."

Schools, government offices closed 

School district officials announced schools are closed Monday due to the fire. 

Belleville officials also said all recreation programs, such as soccer practices, home games and other events, are cancelled for Monday.

Many departments, including code enforcement, registrar, the clerk's office, health, tax and finance and assessor's office, are closed due to a power outage. They will reopen Tuesday. 

The latest on the investigation

The Belleville Fire Department said the fire spread to other buildings and added there were several collapses within those buildings.

At one point, firefighters actually ran out of water and had to wait for a delivery, which came in tankers from five different towns and the U.S. Army, Melham said.

"Thankfully it's an industrial area. Those are all factories and warehouses," Melham said. "That wind unfortunately brought embers soaring into the air, so we had multiple structure fires that were secondary fires that ended up two or three blocks away. At this point, we're very grateful for all the surrounding communities that are here. ... The county OEM is here. I've been direct contact with governor's office. We have multiple, multiple agencies that are here."

The Lyndhurst Police Department noted a visible column of smoke over the west side of the township. Police and fire departments in North Arlington warned that prevailing winds were blowing smoke east into North Arlington and advised all residents to close their windows.

The blaze was out as of Monday morning after burning for hours. 

It also knocked out power to the surrounding area, with more than 780 PSE&G customers impacted at one point. Services were mostly restored as of Monday morning. 

"I've never seen a fire this big"

At least a dozen homes nearby were evacuated and Melham said two caught fire.

"We were banging on doors to get people out, so it happened very fast," resident Danny Rivera said. "And one of the trees caught really quickly, so that went to the backyard, caught the house and that happened within maybe five minutes."

Elaine Mendez said she evacuated her three kids, four dogs and a cat.

"I have a little one and she was in tears because one of her friends actually said that their house burned down," Mendez said. "We felt the smoke, the black smoke. I never seen a fire this big. When they told us to leave, I'm like, 'Are you serious?' It was surreal."