There's good news for residents in Gloucester County, New Jersey, as officials say all evacuation orders have been lifted and they can return home.
Meanwhile, crews remain on scene and are carefull sifting through the debris while firefighters spray it down in an effort to prevent any of it from reigniting.
Thick smoke could be seen from miles away rising from a burning building, later identified as North East Pool Builder's, and trailers in Franklin Township on Thursday. The fire had caused students from a nearby school to be moved to another school and for the nearby area to be evacuated.
The flames broke out along Harding Highway in around 9:21 a.m. on Jan. 23, 2025, and were under control by 11:15 a.m., police said.
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A building and several trailers appeared to be burning as SkyForce10 hovered overhead.
According to the Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management, the building manufactures residential pool shells.
An off-duty volunteer firefighter reported the fire, according to the Franklin Township Police Department.
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When crews were called to the building for the fire, they were told that "multiple chemicals were stored on location and involved in the fire," the office explained. Police explained that an employee of the North East Pool Builder's provided a list of the materials that were inside and on fire.
Officials with the Gloucester County Hazmat found that sealants, known as Resins, as well as Clear Catalyst were in the building during the time of the fire.
As a precaution, schools and homes within a one mile radius of the building were evacuated, officials said. Those evacuation orders have been lifted.
The Main Road School and Our Lady of Mercy Academy monitored air quality within the schools using hazmat units and did not find any concerning air quality, officials said.
“We have experienced no elevated readings of poor air quality anywhere outside of the property that was affected. Recognize that you are going to see some smoke, probably smell the smoke and some of the effects from that as the poor air quality concerns that we had right immediately on site, that only lasted for a brief period of time," Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management chief Andrew Halter said.
Teams with the Gloucester County and Camden County hazmats responded to the scene to monitor it for air quality. They found that there were no elevated toxic readings.
Township and county officials said the hazmat response unit has previously been at the property after neighbors reported odor complaints to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
“We are familiar with the business. There is some issues that are in court right now. So, I’m not going to comment any further than that as far as any dealings with the township. We had previously involved the county hazmat team on this issue," Franklin Township Police chief Matthew Decesari said.
The Franklin Township Police Department said that anyone who lives near where the fire happened should call 9-1-1 if they experience any health related issues.
NBC10 has reached out to North East Pool Builder's by calling the phone number listed on their website. The person who answered hung up before our team could ask for comment.
Officials said that no one was hurt.
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