Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at Sonoco Corp. on Aug. 27, the second fire at the same facility reported this year.
The Monmouth Junction Fire Department was dispatched to the Sonoco Corp. at 5 Stults Road off Route 130 in the Dayton section of South Brunswick for a fire alarm activation around 8 p.m. Aug. 27.
Shortly after receiving the call from the alarm company reporting the fire alarm, employees from the business called 9-1-1 and reported an active fire in the warehouse, according to information provided by the South Brunswick Police Department.
Monmouth Junction Fire Chief Scott Smith and Deputy Chief Sean Wert arrived to find a heavy smoke condition inside the building, according to reports.
Firefighters stretched hoselines inside and located palletized goods on fire, which was quickly contained, according to the statement.
A total of 10 fire trucks and over 50 firefighters responded to the two-alarm fire, including firefighters from Monmouth Junction, Kendall Park, Kingston, Jamesburg, Plainsboro, North Brunswick Co. No. 2, Monroe Fire District No. 3 and Hightstown.
Several large trailer-mounted fans from the Edison Fire Department were used to help ventilate the smoke condition created by burning plastic and cardboard.
Firefighters from Brookview, East Brunswick District No. 1, Griggstown and Montgomery Fire Co. No. 2 covered South Brunswick fire stations during the incident.
Ambulances from South Brunswick, North Brunswick and Monroe responded to the fire.
One firefighter was treated at the scene for heat stress and transported to Princeton hospital as a precaution, according to the statement.
“Fortunately, the sprinkler system contained the fire to several palletized stacks of goods in the warehouse,” Smith said in the statement. “It was a humid evening, so we had to rotate our firefighters frequently as they moved goods in the heavily packed warehouse in order to reach the seat of the fire to complete extinguishment. We even had firefighters operating fork-lifts to move unburned product.”
The fire is under investigation by the South Brunswick Township Fire Safety Bureau.
More than 50 firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire around 7 p.m. Feb. 19, according to previous reports.
“Firefighters encountered frozen hydrants on the property and on Stults Road, and had to use tankers from Cranbury, Jamesburg, Plainsboro and Monroe to supply water to fight the fire,” Smith said in a statement released at the time.
The fire involved the finished cardboard canisters manufactured by the facility which were stored on plastic pallets and shrink-wrapped, then stacked three pallets high, according to the statement.
“Fortunately the sprinkler system and fire pump contained the fire to several stacks of the palletizing goods. Unfortunately, the fire and water caused several pallets to collapse, making it difficult for firefighters to locate and extinguish the seat of the fire,” Smith said in the statement.
Firefighting crews had to be rotated frequently due to the manpower intensive efforts to reach the seat of the fire, which was approximately 300 feet deep into the warehouse, according to the statement.
A heavy smoke condition further complicated efforts, and took several hours to ventilate using large trailer-mounted fans from the Edison and Millstone Valley fire departments, according to the statement.
Firefighters remained on scene for several hours. Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad and North Brunswick First Aid and Rescue Squad were on scene but no injuries were reported, according to the statement.