181 McBride Avenue,
Paterson, Passaic County

Last Updated 30 June 2005

On April 23, 2005 the NJDEP Bureau of Emergency Response (BER), at the request of the Passaic County Health Department, responded to 181 McBride Ave., Paterson, Passaic County. A two-story building is located on the property with an attached one-story garage. The first floor of the building was filled from floor to ceiling with containers ranging from 1 pint to 5 gallons in size. Some of the containers were labeled and some were not. There was old latex paint, oil based paint, varnishes, stains, and other materials associated with a paint contracting business. Hazardous materials such as flammables, combustibles, solvents, and corrosives were mixed in with solid waste. Unlabeled containers of assorted sizes and 55 gallon drums were piled outside the building. Trees had grown around old cars and trucks on the outside lot and the building appeared to have been abandoned. The surrounding properties are residential. The property was not secure. The tax records identified the owner of the property as Cap Coatings, 181 McBride Ave. Neighbors stated that they had not seen the owner in several years. Local and county officials attempted to contact the property owner with no success. Due to the risk of public exposure, and the fire hazard, NJDEP, Bureau of Emergency Response opened a $50,000.00 Spill Fund Authorization to clean up the site. After working at the site for two days, and uncovering more hazardous materials than anticipated, it became apparent that the cleanup would cost more than the $50,000.00 Authorization. Therefore, the NJDEP Bureau of Emergency Response stabilized and disposed of any hazardous material which was leaking or creating an immediate threat to human health and/or the environment and secured the site. BER also engaged the municipality to use local resources to remove non-hazardous waste that was at the site. With this accomplished, BER contacted EPA for assistance. Emergency responders met with EPA representatives at the site in early June and are working together to determine future cleanup activities.