The Record
Hasbrouck Heights battles fire
at Borough Hall, police station

Saturday, December 11, 1999

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- A multiple-alarm fire raged at Borough Hall and the adjacent police station early today, knocking out police communications and taxing an already-weary Fire Department.

Firefighters still were battling the blaze after 12:30 a.m. An eyewitness said damage to the buildings appeared to be extensive and included a collapsed roof. The Bergen County Police were handling emergency calls for the borough.

The second floor of the building where the fire was raging housed offices of the borough clerk and borough administrator as well as the municipal courtroom, the council caucus room, and an exempt firemen's meeting room.

The blaze at Borough Hall, at 248 Hamilton Ave., occurred less than 24 hours after firefighters cleared the scene of a plane crash, fire, and explosion between several houses in a residential neighborhood.

Firefighters from towns including Hackensack, Wood-Ridge, Moonachie, Lyndhurst, Rutherford, Teaneck, Wallington, and Carlstadt responded to the call. Hundreds of people watched from the parking lot of a senior citizen complex across the street.

Investigators were to begin trying to determine a cause of the fire as soon as the blaze was out.