'We're very, very lucky': Water main break hindered North Brunswick warehouse firefighting

NORTH BRUNSWICK – Investigators were awaiting Friday’s expected arrival of some heavy equipment to help in determining the cause of Wednesday's massive mattress warehouse fire that raged for hours, destroying part of the building.

But police report no one was injured in the six-alarm fire that appears to have started in the rear of the building and drew tanker trucks from throughout the state to help battle the blaze, which occurred when the township experienced a water main break several blocks away.

Police Capt. Brian Hoiberg said the fire is being investigated by the North Brunswick Fire Marshal's Office along with the Middlesex County Fire Marshal’s Office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, but they have not yet been able to get into the building because some areas were still smoldering late Thursday and the structural condition of the warehouse makes it unsafe for anyone to enter. The heavy equipment will be used to demolish some areas stabilize others.

Around 3:33 p.m. Wednesday, North Brunswick police received a report of a fire in a building at 633 Nassau St., the site of a mattress warehouse that has been in town for about 10 years. The fire sent thick black smoke into the air.

Hoiberg said two different companies, with the same owners, operate out of the site. Dreamwell Mattress, a Greek company specializing in hand-crafted mattresses, is one of the businesses, he said.

Hoiberg said the dispatcher told the caller to have everyone evacuate the building, but when police officers arrived shortly after, workers were found inside. He said the building was so large, and split into two sections sharing one common wall, that workers in the front half of the building were unaware of the fire in the rear portion of the structure.

He said patrol officers were able to evacuate everyone from the building and residents in eight homes along Jefferson Avenue, the street located directly behind the warehouse. The residents were able to return to their homes around 11 p.m. Wednesday, an hour after the fire was deemed under control.

Hoiberg said no injuries have been reported.

"We're very, very lucky," he said.

Hoiberg said the rear warehouse and all the materials inside were completely destroyed. The owner has remained on site.

Fueling the fire were an assortment of combustible materials on site. Hoiberg said the warehouse housed the materials needed to build mattresses and box springs, such as wood, metal for bed coils and foam.

"The explosions people heard were propane tanks. There were several propane tanks, some attached to forklifts for forklift fuel and others used in the process of making mattresses, and all those exploded at different times. There were countless explosions of propane tanks throughout the night," Hoiberg said, adding the explosions may have been heard in other communities.

The fire occurred at the same time as a water main break on Cranbury Cross Road which lowered the water pressure at the hydrants.

"The pressure we were getting was not enough to support what was needed for the firefighting operation. Responding to actively work on the fire were probably about five different fire departments, however, the state Tanker Task Force was activated," said Hoiberg, who explained often towns that don't have city water have tankers and if they are part of the tanker task force, they can be called to assist other communities with water at any time.

At points throughout Wednesday there were 20 to 30 tankers from around the state delivering water, taken from the Farrington Lake, and brought to the scene to feed the firefighting operation. Hoiberg recalls seeing tankers from Ocean, Morris, Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth, Mercer and Hunterdon counties.

He said the tankers don't come with full crews but send about two people to deliver the water. Georges Road was shut down to allow for that operation, because the tanks they were dumping water into were on Georges Road. The tanker would fill up at Farrington Lake, dump the water on Georges Road and return to Farrington Lake to refill, a process that continued all night, Hoiberg said.

Hoiberg said roads that intersected with Georges Road also were shut down. Route 130 was open but the intersection with Washington Place was closed so the tankers could access Farrington Lake easily and go back and forth.

"We had people calling in concerned because they kept hearing fire sirens all night long, but it was those tankers going back and forth from the fill site to the dump site,” Hoiberg said.

Hoiberg, a 28-year veteran of the North Brunswick Police Department, said the fire was the second biggest operation he's seen in town since the July 2015 10-alarm warehouse fire, part of an auto dealers complex at 1600 Livingston Ave. that burned for days. He said that fire brought tankers from as far as New York and Pennsylvania.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: North Brunswick NJ warehouse firefighting hindered by water main break