Firefighters continued to snuff hot spots at a large warehouse fire in Hamburg Monday afternoon that sent plumes of smoke into the sky overnight as crews work to get inside the building to determine if anyone was inside, according to police.
First responders were called to a structure fire around 2 a.m. at 49 Gingerbread Castle Road, the site of the former 19th-Century Wheatsworth Mills factory located opposite the iconic Gingerbread Castle, according to Hamburg Police Chief Jason Tangorra. The castle, once part of a fairy tale-themed park built in the 1920s, was not harmed in the fire, Tangorra confirmed.
Tangorra said it remains under investigation as to whether anyone was inside the building at the time, stating that while the fire is under control, hot spots and lots of water have prevented crews from getting inside. Tangorra said he is not aware of any injuries.
“We have been using drones to fly over the building,” he said.
Screenshot from a Ring video on Wishing Well Road in Hamburg showing the massive flames from a fire that engulfed a warehouse in Hamburg early Monday morning.
The warehouse is owned by a single company, Daoftre Capital Group, who had “several pallets of designer clothing inside” at the time of the blaze, Tangorra said. The property is owned by a wholesale manufacturing business that sells accessories. On Aug. 14, 2023, the company’s owners were granted permission to renovate the building to house overflow from the business in Wayne, according to meeting minutes. The owners testified last year that the business would not initially have employees unless they expanded, in which case there could be upwards of six working on-site. Attempts to contact the company were not immediately successful.
Daoftre Capital Group also owns an adjacent strip of land at 35 Gingerbread Castle Road. The Gingerbread Castle property has a different owner.
The cause and origin of the fire remains under investigation.
The roughly four-acre site was once home to several businesses, including the National Biscuit Company in the 1930s, the Canterbury Milling Company in the 1940s and the Plastoid Corporation, which operated a manufacturing plant until the late 20th century. The facility was abandoned for several years before Daoftre Capital Group purchased the property in 2021.
Email: lcomstock@njherald.com; Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH or on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Hamburg NJ fire at warehouse causes damage, crews hit hot spots
