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The blaze broke out in the single-story Pickle King plant on Ellison Street at Straight Street around 6 a.m. March 25, several hours after the last employees working on Friday had left, city authorities said.
It went to two alarms within minutes, then hit three bells shortly before 7 a.m., as flames blew through the roof and it eventually collapsed.
A firefighter was taken to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center after falling off a ladder and injuring his hand, responders said.
No other injuries were reported.
For a striking and impressive photo gallery, go to: Paterson NJ 3rd alarm, 220 Ellison St. 03-25-23
Pickle King was named for Samuel “Shimmy” Nadel, whose sons created the original business in the late 1950s.
The dill dealers operated for a time in their Passaic backyard, not exactly thrilling the neighbors. They set up shop at the Paterson Farmers Market on East Railway Avenue as a result and nearly two decades later moved to a facility on Wayne Avenue.
Investigators were planning to comb through the wreckage once it was safe to do so in order to determine the cause of the fire.
Firefighters spent several hours dousing the blaze while keeping it from spreading to the Panther Academy (also known as P-TECH Panther), a science and tech high school right next door, and Passaic County Community College just down the street.
They continued drowning pockets of flame in and around the Pickle King structure, which firefighters said had been filled with boxes and other materials.
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