A destructive fire took out a New Jersey pickle business Saturday morning and threatened a pair of nearby schools.
The fire consumed much of the commercial structure on Ellison Street in Paterson after flames were first reported around 6 a.m., the city's head of public safety, Jerry Speziale, said.
The fire department's response was upgraded to three alarms as crews worked to gain control of the blaze overtaking the roof of Pickle King, a gherkin producer reportedly in the community for decades.
No cause of the fire was immediately known.
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The pickle plant – which manufactures a variety of pickled products – employs at least 50 people. Thankfully, no one was working inside the factory at the time of the fire.
The factory sits next to two academic schools that were spared damage thanks to the fire department's intervention.
"On the scene for a Three Alarm Fire that has destroyed the Pickle King building. Thankfully, our firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading to PANTHER Academy," Mayor Andre Sayegh wrote on Instagram.
The nearby community college also avoided catching any stray flames.
