GAS EXPLOSION ROUTS PLANT WORKERS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 9, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B02

A natural gas line outside a power station at the Garden State Paper Co. ruptured Tuesday, causing an explosion that sent fireballs into the air and routed about 115 employees from four surrounding plants, authorities said.
Fire Chief Sean Delahanty said the only confirmed injury was to John Czujko, his first assistant chief, who was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. Although neither police nor fire officials could confirm any other injury, employees at the neighboring Zumtobel Lighting said a colleague was taken to the hospital with burns on his forehead.
The man leaped out of his car just after the pipe exploded, said Ben Perez of Paterson, a sheet-metal fabricator at the company, which is next to the power station.
“The explosion happened right in front of him,” Perez said. “He didn’t know what happened. He got out of his car and ran with everyone down Kipp Avenue.”
Three cars belonging to Garden State Paper employees and a backhoe owned by an independent contractor were destroyed by the ensuing fire, which was fed by natural gas shooting out of the pipe until it was shut it off.
Officials could not say how the leaking gas was ignited. They also could not say how many employees were inside the four-story power station at the time of the explosion, but said all got out safely.
Rich King, plant manager for King Finishing, a powder coating firm, said he ran back into his building and escaped from the back dock after seeing the explosion, which someone called in to the Police Department about 2:45 p.m.
“We no sooner walked outside and there was this fireball,” King said. “I ran through the plant and yelled, `Everybody get out.”
Margo Lane, communications manager for Garden State Paper, said she had no information on the cause of the explosion but said it effectively shut down the company’s operation because the station is the only power source for the plant, which processes recycled newsprint. The company’s main building, about two blocks from the power station and containing about 250 workers, was not evacuated.
About 85 firefighters from Garfield, Lodi, Wallington, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Saddle Brook, and Elmwood Park fought the blaze.

Keywords: GARFIELD; BUSINESS; EXPLOSION; FIRE

WATER MAIN BREAK HITS CARS, COMMERCE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 5, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page A12

A water main break on Main Street on Tuesday snarled traffic and shut off water to about 15 stores, disrupting business, officials said.
A 12-inch main that dates to 1883 ruptured at about 2 a.m., Hackensack Water Co. spokeswoman Cindy Munley said. Workers located the rupture in front of the United Jersey Bank at 210 Main St. and turned off the pipe about 6:30 a.m., she said.
Santiago Patino, the bank’s operations division vice president, said the bank was closed for the day because the Fire Department, for safety reasons, advised that electrical power to the building be cut. Water drained into the bank’s basement, where all the bank’s electrical components were kept, he said.
Customers were directed to other branches, Patino said, adding that the bank will reopen today.
Perry Tsucalas, owner of Colby’s Luncheonette at 190 Main St., said the restaurant lost about 40 percent of its customers for the day when the bank closed. “A lot of our customers are from the bank, and that affects business,” Tsucalas said.
Tammy Hoffman, manager of Duby Florist, which is next door to Colby’s, said she was called in to work about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, five hours earlier than usual, to find about four feet of water in the basement.
“We couldn’t park in front of the store because of the water, Hoffman said. “It was like a big river on Main Street from the railroad track. The top of the store was fine, but downstairs in the basement there were three to four feet of water. It’s just a total mess. We lost all our supplies.”
Water was restored about 4 p.m., Munley said, adding that about 15 stores had to have water pumped out of their basements.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; WATER; ACCIDENT; BUSINESS; STORE

BERGEN FIRM HIT IN $13M DRUG BUST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 20, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Edition: All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

Federal drug agents have arrested the president of an Englewood Cliffs trucking firm, seized 1,087 pounds of cocaine found in a company truck, and confiscated the company’s assets, officials said.
Agents in New York, Los Angeles, and Tucson, Ariz., seized an additional 420 pounds of cocaine bringing the total value of the drug seizure to $13.3 million after the arrest of six individuals Wednesday in Queens, U.S. Customs Service Special Agent Martin Ficke said Friday. Three other people were arrested in Tucson, he said.
Jaime Quintero, president of Suffolk Overland Transport Inc. at 701 Palisades Ave., set up the deal for the truck to carry the drugs, Ficke said.
Ficke said about 12 trailers belonging to the company, which he said had been involved in “significant” drug trafficking since December 1989, were seized, along with other assets. The company’s 25 employees were effectively out of work, he said.
A man who answered Suffolk Overland Transport’s telephone in Englewood Cliffs on Friday declined to comment.
After the investigation began about two weeks ago in Tucson, agents followed a truck to Los Angeles, then to Newark, and finally to Queens, Ficke said.

Keywords: USA; DRUG; CRIME; ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS; BUSINESS; EXECUTIVE; MOTOR VEHICLE