Lithium batteries fuel stubborn three-alarm warehouse fire, 2 firefighters hurt

Nick, I had a chance to speak with the fire chief, Somerset Fire and Rescue. As a matter of fact, I posted that interview on my social pages if you want to check that out. But I'm going to relay what he told me here on News 12. Now, you can see firefighters in and out of the building. There are two businesses inside. This is Schoolhouse Road at Clark Street, right off Elizabeth Avenue in Franklin Township. The businesses inside are Village Office Supply and New Tech Recycling. The chief tells me the building is basically split in half with a business on each side. The village office supply, for the most part, supplies furniture. And there were employees in the building when the fire began. He tells me they all got out. New Tech Recycling, he tells me, recycles electronics as well as lithium batteries. And that is what they're concerned about right now. They're letting these batteries kind of burn out. Taking their time with that, going in, checking it, coming back out, you throw water on it, as we know, doesn't do a whole lot when you're dealing with lithium batteries, so they're just making sure the fire doesn't spread, there are no major issues, and actually, in this past hour, we've hardly seen any smoke coming out of this warehouse. Now, two firefighters suffered some minor injuries, but basically walked away. He says that they'll both be. Be just fine. That is certainly good news. Again, the employees who were inside for the office supply company did get out unharmed. No issues there. So as far as injuries are concerned, all good news. How the fire started, still don't know that yet. That's something they're going to have to investigate once they get everything settled. But right now, they just want to keep an eye on those batteries. Make sure nothing spreads, make sure they keep it under control. Again, we've seen from Drone 12 video, we see some ventilation up top from air conditioners, things of that nature, and we saw a lot of smoke coming out of that a little earlier when we first arrived. We didn't know if they had put some venting holes in the roof, but by the looks of it from Drone 12, that appears not to be the case. That there's just ventilation up there where that smoke was escaping from all the doors and the bay doors were open when we arrived and smoke was coming out in that form as well. But again, this past, you know, since about seven o'clock this morning, we really haven't seen that much smoke coming out of the building. So they're just letting those lithium batteries burn off. That may take a while. As we know, when dealing with those batteries. But again, we'll wait to see exactly how this fire started. As far as you're concerned, some detours in the area. If you work in the area or even trying to get the Dunkin' Donuts, you may have some issues there with the detours. But it is open and people are making their way in and out off of Elizabeth Avenue. So as we get more specifics on this and how it started, certainly pass it along. News 12, news12.com, the News 12 app. Go to my social pages to see the full interview with the fire chief. That's the latest from Franklin Township. Tony Caputo, News 12, New Jersey.