SCOTCH PLAINS — A firefighter and a demolition contractor were injured on Tuesday in a fire that consumed a section of an East Second Street building that was being torn down.
The two-story building, which formerly housed a bicycle shop and apartments, is being razed to make way for a new mixeduse, three-story building containing apartments and commercial space. Demolition began on Tuesday morning at the back of the building located between Sycamore and Flanders Avenues. At 1: 23 p. m., according to Deputy Fire Chief Skip Paal, a worker for the demolition crew was using a torch to cut a steel beam when embers fell onto a pile of debris below, igniting a fierce blaze that destroyed the eastern end of the building and the roof within minutes. The police and fire departments arrived minutes later and the fire was under control within 45 minutes.
Mr. Paal explained that a firefighter was treated at the scene for a burn and one of the contractors was transported to the hospital for medical evaluation. Mr. Paal noted that the fire department had used the empty building several weeks ago for training.
Demolition resumed later in the afternoon, although parents picking up their children from Nettingham Middle School experienced delays on East Second Street. It was an officer at the rear of the school who had first noticed smoke billowing from the building and then called 9-1-1.
This reporter had been informed of the demolition on Tuesday morning and was at the scene taking photographs when he smelled smoke while at the back of the building. After hearing the workers yelling and then seeing them fleeing the building, he saw the flames quickly grow in intensity and become visible from the back and through the front windows.
The East Second Street fire was the second one in town on Tuesday. In the morning, the department responded to an apartment fire on Tussel Lane, where a police officer suffered from smoke inhalation, according to Police Chief Jeffrey Briel.
At Tuesday evening’s township council meeting, Fire Chief John Lestarchick praised his department, saying, “ I couldn’t be prouder” of his team.
