What to Know
- Authorities investigate a chemical reaction at an NJ chemical plant that resulted that caused a fire and led to evacuations
- The incident occurred at Diamond Chemical Co. located at 20 East Union Avenue at Dubois Street in East Rutherford
- Minor injuries were reported, according to county officials
Authorities are investigating a chemical reaction at a northern New Jersey chemical plant that caused a fire to break out and subsequently led to evacuations.
The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Diamond Chemical Co. located at 20 East Union Avenue at Dubois Street in East Rutherford.
Fire officials say there was some sort of chemical reaction inside the plant while workers were mixing two different chemicals, one of which was chlorine.
That reaction subsequently caused a fire and a plume of smoke. The incident prompted local authorities as well as Bergen County Hazmat and Bergen County Office of Emergency Management to respond to the scene.
Fire officials said that chlorine leaked and that is what people reported smelling in the air.
According to Bergen County Executive James Tedesco, the incident resulted in two minor injuries. It is unclear what the injuries are at this point.
Local
East Rutherford and surrounding towns issued "shelter-in-place" advisories. They were subsequently lifted around 4:30 p.m. after it was determined that there was no negative air quality readings of chlorine or any other chemical.
Officials say the scene is safe.
The cleanup effort is underway as authorities investigate exactly what went wrong.
East Rutherford has a population of about 8,900 people. It is seven miles west of Midtown.
Diamond Chemical is one of the largest privately owned national cleaning and sanitizing product companies in the country, according to the company website.
The East Rutherford complex houses the company's corporate offices, laboratories, manufacturing and warehouse operations, the website goes on to say.
