Schools Reopen After Massive Belleville Fire, State Of Emergency Lifted

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The “state of emergency” is over after a devastating fire rocked Belleville ten days ago. But recovery efforts continue to impact the town – and its public school district.

The massive fire broke out on Cortlandt Street around 3 p.m. on May 3. Strong winds eventually spread the flames to multiple warehouses in the neighborhood, with collapses reported and additional fires seen blocks away, including at several nearby homes.

There was no loss of life or civilian injuries. However, one firefighter sustained a minor elbow injury and was transported to Clara Maass Medical Center. Several others were treated overnight for smoke inhalation and exhaustion.

Water pressure became a challenge at one point, with the neighboring township of Nutley lending a hand and opening interconnections to boost the flow. The loss in pressure also impacted the Belleville school district (see more below).

A local state of emergency was declared on the day of the fire. It has since been lifted, Mayor Michael Melham reported Monday.

According to Melham, who has been providing updates on social media, demolition operations have continued to take place in the area in the week after the fire.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has reported that background air quality action levels are below the standard action level. A second round of air quality testing from the NJDEP is expected to follow after demolition operations conclude, Melham said.

BELLEVILLE SCHOOLS

The Belleville Public School District was also impacted by the fire, closing for three days last week before temporarily pivoting to remote learning.

Superintendent Erick Alfonso and district administrators have been releasing updates via social media, and cautioning that “misinformation” has been spreading in the news.

On May 8, Alfonso reported that the district has received positive information from the Belleville OEM that the fire is completely out and contained. Water pressure is varying around schools in the district, he added.

“Our top priority — after the safety and well-being of our students and families — is to ensure continuity of instruction,” the superintendent said, reporting that Chromebooks were made available to students.

The school district also provided hot meals to families in need, which were distributed at Belleville High School in partnership with Maschio's Food Services.

Alfonso spoke about the efforts to get students back in the classroom in a video filmed at the scene of the fire, while firefighters continued to spray a nearby smoldering building with their hoses.

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Students finally returned to in-person classes on Tuesday – just in time for New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) testing.

School administrators said the decision to return to class was made after careful consideration and consultation with public safety officials.

“Thank you to our families, staff, emergency responders, township officials, and entire Belleville community for your patience, resilience and support throughout this unprecedented situation,” Alfonso said Monday.

“We are proud of how our community came together during a very difficult time,” he added.

Some parents and teachers aren’t so enthusiastic about the way things played out in the wake of the fire, however.

On Tuesday – as students returned to classrooms – the Belleville Public School 9 Home and School Association (BPS9HSA) and the Belleville Education Association (BEA) penned a letter to the school superintendent and mayor. Read it here, or view it below.

According to the letter, there have been serious concerns about how decisions such as school closures are made in Belleville – and shared with local families.

“In the hours and days following the fire, our community was left navigating uncertainty with little or no official instruction, resorting to group chats and scavenging social media for guidance or information – both of which should have been provided by the government that we entrust for such tasks,” the groups said.

The letter offered some examples of the frustrations that parents and teachers have experienced:

“Among other things, oscillating and unstable decisions regarding school closures, student relocations, and remote schooling raised urgent safety concerns and calls for explanations that went unanswered. Our children were originally directed to attend schools in closer proximity to the fire rather than farther away (before that order was rescinded in the middle of the night), heightening fears among parents, especially those with children who suffer from asthma or other respiratory conditions. When school was originally set to restart on Tuesday, some children were sent to different school locations without access to essential items including medications. Families were not provided adequate notice or coordination to ensure their children’s medical and personal needs were met, and teachers were not consulted or even informed about the protocols and processes before they were made public.”

The pivot to remote learning should have been smoother, especially considering that the town is only a few years removed from the COVID pandemic, the letter says. Meanwhile, lingering concerns about air quality continue to fuel anxiety among local families.

Parents and teachers called for several actions to be taken:

• “The immediate establishment of a centralized emergency communication system to provide consistent, real-time updates to families.”
• “Transparent and frequent communication regarding safety conditions, including air quality and evacuation status.”
• “A clear, publicly shared plan, for the future, for school operations during emergencies, including contingencies for remote learning.”
• “Coordination among all responding agencies to ensure unified messaging and accountability.”
• “Inclusion of parent and teacher voices in decisions regarding school closures, relocations, and reopening plans.”
• “Immediate guidance regarding missed instructional time and standardized testing, including AP exams.”
• “A public review of the emergency response to identify gaps and implement improvements moving forward.”

“Our goal is not to assign blame, but to ensure that our community is better prepared, better informed, and better protected in future emergencies (i.e. blizzards, flooding),” the letter states. “Our children’s safety must remain the highest priority, and that requires planning, transparency, collaboration, and above all, a rebuilding of the trust that has been squandered.”

VISIT FROM GOVERNOR

Gov. Mikie Sherrill visited Belleville last week to survey the damage and meet with local officials and emergency responders. She also spoke with some heartbroken entrepreneurs who watched their businesses go up in flames.

“I mean ... you just look at it – it’s a horrible, horrible fire that took place,” the governor said. “To see that nobody was hurt and to have the men and women who were working around the clock to make sure that happened, it just shows you once again, which I keep pointing out here in the state, that we have the best public servants in the nation… the best firefighters.”

Melham said he has formally submitted a request to Sherrill seeking an emergency declaration for Belleville.

“This declaration is critically important to help open the door to disaster relief funding and additional resources needed for cleanup, remediation, reimbursements and support for our residents, businesses and school district,” Melham said.

“We’re still trying to quantify the numbers, but we’re talking about several million dollars that Belleville has to pay to clean this up,” he told a reporter during the governor’s visit.

• Related: ‘Fire Is Out’ In Belleville; Governor Visits Town After Massive Warehouse Blaze [PHOTOS]

POTENTIAL CAUSE

Melham previously told News 12 New Jersey that while the investigation is ongoing, welding may have played a role in starting the fire.

Video from the scene shared by PIX11 News reportedly shows the moment that the fire began in a warehouse (watch the footage here). Flames can be seen sparking in a corner of the building, eventually attracting the attention of a worker, who calls for help and moves boxes and other materials away from the fire. Subsequent attempts to douse the flames are unsuccessful.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) continues to conduct a formal investigation to determine the cause and origin of the fire, Melham said Monday.

IMPACT TO RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES

Multiple families living near the area were evacuated from their homes after the fire broke out. Other residents reported that the fire left them without electricity, water and internet service.

Several online fundraisers have been launched in the wake of the massive blaze.

“Everything we worked so hard to build burned down,” one victim said, reporting that their family were evacuated from their home with little warning.

“Years of sacrifice, long days, and dedication turned to ashes overnight,” another said. “We lost everything — our entire inventory, our equipment, and the materials that kept our business running. This isn’t just a business to us. It’s our livelihood.”

>> Related: Devastating Fire Leaves Belleville Families, Businesses Pleading For Help

FIREFIGHTERS SEE ‘OUTPOURING OF GENEROSITY’

Belleville Fire Chief John Olivieri said local firefighters were grateful for an outpouring of support from the community as they put in grueling hours battling the blaze.

Temporary command centers were established at the scene for emergency responders – and local residents would come to bring them bags of food, cases of bottled water and wishes of gratitude, Olivieri said.

“The residents’ outpouring of generosity, as well as the brave work of firefighters from many other towns… it all meant a lot to our guys,” the chief said. “A lot of our guys worked some long hours. We were on this fire round the clock for days.”

“What the residents did, just by coming by with water, with food, it really lifted their spirits during an extraordinarily challenging time,” Olivieri added.

Belleville town council member Vinny Cozzarelli – who represents the Third Ward where the fire occurred – said it was “heartwarming” to see the community rally around its first responders.

“Some people would just go down to the firehouse to check on the firefighters and to offer them support,” Cozzarelli said. “That’s what Belleville is all about.”

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