Fairfield Township, NJ – A building that contained about 12 individual businesses was evacuated after a carbon monoxide detector in one of them activated on Wednesday, April 22, according to Deputy Chief of Police Anthony Manna.
The police and fire departments responded to 22 Commerce Road shortly after 1:30 p.m. and found the presence of extremely high levels of the dangerous gas in at least six of the businesses, Manna said.
The fire department, along with representative of PSE&G, attempted to initially find the source of the problem but could not do so, Manna said. The businesses that were affected were then ventilated using exhaust fans. After the ventilation occurred, all doors and windows were closed to determine if carbon monoxide levels would again rise, as that would be indicative of an ongoing issue, Manna said. When they did not, the building was given the all-clear at 3:30 p.m.
While the exact source of the gas could not be determined, fire officials believed a propane gas fork lift may have played a part in the incident, Manna said.
Once again, this incident demonstrates the need for every home and business to having function fire and carbon monoxide detectors, Manna said. This incident could have definitely resulted in sickness or even possible death had the detector not gone off..
Assisting on the scene were members of the West Caldwell Fire Department, West Essex First Aid Squad and Atlantic Healthcare Ambulance EMS-7.