Bloomfield NJ 4th alarm, 55 Washington St. 01-21-20

A 4 alarm fire heavily damaged a commercial building at 55 Washington St. in Bloomfield NJ on January 21st, 2020. The fire department was dispatched for the fire just before 08:00 and on arrival found a working fire in the 1st floor rear of the building which housed several businesses as well as offices on the 2nd floor. After fighting for almost one and half hours to try and contain the fire and with conditions deteriorating, command ordered all members out of the building and switched to a defensive attack setting up numerous exterior hand lines, blitz fire nozzles, several elevated streams and a deck gun. As heavy smoke pushed from the building, the fire eventually broke through the roof. Firefighters from through out Essex and Passaic counties worked in bitter cold temperatures for hours to bring the fire under control at around 11:00 and continued to overhaul for several additional hours. No injuries were reported and the fire was contained to the original fire building. The cause of the fire is under investigation.