At least one business has been destroyed following an early morning fire in Howell Township.
The fire happened around 2 a.m. on Squankum-Yellowbrook Road in the Adelphia section of town.
Firefighters responded to flames pouring from the roof of the building. According to the fire chief, the building used to be a chicken coop at one point that turned into several businesses, including an auto-body shop.
The building houses five different auto-related business, and at least one was destroyed.
After the roof collapsed and the flames were controlled, heavy equipment was brought in to safely take down part of the structure and also remove materials from inside including vehicles.
Office of Emergency of Emergency management officials are making sure everything is contained.
“The concern was it was all auto-repair shops in the chicken coops back here and they had a lot of paint thinner and gasoline and oil mixed in with the burning materials so that’s the reason why the hazardous materials team was called out,” says Howell OEM Director Victor Cook.
The firefighters were able to contain most of the damage to just the one business as several different companies worked out of the building.
There are no injuries to report.
No word yet on how the fire started.