Drone captures destruction from massive fire at Marcal Paper plant

[DirtEdonE]

I drove by the Marcal Paper building for decades on I-80 and on Paterson Ave. It was a near half a million square foot icon in the North Jersey region.

This reminds me of the Burry's Biscuits fire in Elizabeth, NJ several years ago. Another huge iconic building I lived near for several years that burned to the ground. The Burry's building was so big firefighters couldn't get water to the core of the fire and it burned for days and days until the fire simply ran out of fuel.

The intoxicating aroma of those Burry's Biscuits baking permeated the entire neighborhood in the warm months. When it was hot, we used to try to swipe cookies from the open windows at Burry's when we were kids!

[George II]

1. I can't tell you how many times I've driven past that building - that sign was iconic.

To be honest, I haven't been that way in more than 10 years, when I read this I was surprised that the building/sign were still there, figured the property would have been redeveloped by now.

There's another building and sign in a similar type of location along the NJ Turnpike or Garden State Parkway further south, was that the Burry's plant?

[Kahuna7]

2. My mother worked in that Burry's Bisquits bldg in the 60s. nt

[DirtEdonE]

5. My mom worked at Mrs. Mac's bakery in Newark in the 60s!

That's when we lived near Burry's.

I delivered freight there years later after United Bakers or whoever took over.

[2naSalit]

3. Used to drive past it for years too.

Just gutted. Wonder how that will affect the paper market, especially tissue types like napkins, TP, paper towels and... can't remember but that was a huge facility and they lost a lot of product.

[3Hotdogs]

4. It is/was central to the paper recycling efforts in N.J.

Besides household paper goods, they sold newsprint. That may disrupt newspapers, especially ones with low circulation.

It will also remove a market for recycled paper.