By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
One year after a massive industrial fire shut down Route 206 and brought nearly 100 fire companies from the surrounding area to help suppress the blaze, township officials took time to recognize the men and women of Hillsborough’s fire response personnel who worked around the clock., Mayor Carl Suraci, who was serving as a committeeman at the time of the incident, handed out special commendations to Hillsborough Fire Companies 1, 2 and 3, as well as the Neshanic Fire Company., “We are so thankful and appreciative to all of the firefighters, Hillsborough Township Board of Fire Safety, Police Officers and EMS Squad who worked so hard in spite of brutal conditions at the Somerville Industrial Park fire,” Mayor Carl Suraci said at the Feb. 13 Township Committee meeting., Described by the mayor as “one of the largest fires in memory,” the Feb. 12, 2016 inferno broke out in one of the four industrial warehouses on site at the Veterans Industrial Park, located at the west side of Route 206 between Brown Avenue and Camplain Road., The fire was first reported about 3 p.m. that afternoon, when an alarm came in that water sprinklers in a building had activated. Firefighting efforts grew steadily throughout the day, as the fire gained intensity and spread, resulting in more than $50 million in damages and destroying two buildings that encompassed approximately 500,000 square feet., Along with the sheer size of the conflagration, responding fire and emergency personnel dealt with near-zero temperatures and steady winds that further complicated firefighting efforts., By the time the fire was contained, officials announced that there were no fatalities related to the incident, though two firefighters suffered minor injuries., The five-alarm fire was extinguished two days later on Feb. 13, thanks to the assistance of 93 fire companies responding with more than 200 emergency vehicles from across central Jersey., According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ National Response Team, the fire scene investigation revealed that the fire was pinpointed to the high-rack storage area of a paper records storage business located in building 14 in the west side of unit C., For Committeeman Frank DelCore, who was serving as the township’s mayor at the time of the fire, the men and women of Hillsborough who responded to the crisis were invaluable., “On behalf of the township committee, we would like to thank everyone who once again showed all who were watching why we are one of the Best Places to Live in America,” he said.
