Abandoned Galaxie Chemical Factory (17 E. Main St.)

The Fire

A five-alarm fire — described by local outlets as Paterson's largest of 2026 to date — consumed the abandoned one-story, roughly 200-by-300-foot former Galaxie Chemical Corporation dye manufacturing building. Crews arrived to find the heavy-timber structure already heavily involved; operations went defensive almost immediately. Firefighters used cranes to pour water onto the rubble during and after the active fire.

Firefighting was severely hampered by infrastructure problems. Paterson Deputy Fire Chief Michael Cleenput said the department had only one operational hydrant in the immediate area and suffered from severe low water pressure, delaying an effective attack. A live natural gas feed remained connected to the long-abandoned building and had to be shut down by the utility during operations.

No injuries were reported. Gas and power were cut to nearby homes as a precaution; hazmat monitoring found no harmful air quality and no shelter-in-place order was issued, though some neighbors evacuated on their own due to heat and proximity. The Paterson mayor's office announced the remains of the building would be demolished, and demolition began during/after firefighting because of structural collapse risk.

Cause

Undetermined as of publication. The Paterson Fire Division, the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety (state fire marshal's office), and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were all called in to investigate origin and cause.

Fire officials publicly stated they suspect squatters had been occupying the abandoned structure, and that trash and debris left inside helped fuel the blaze. Property-adjacent owner Elvio Taveras told CBS New York he had confronted people entering the building roughly eight months before the fire. No arson has been alleged, and no charges have been filed. No evidence in public reporting connects the fire to a deliberate act.

Flag: ATF involvement at an abandoned-building fire is not by itself evidence of suspected arson — ATF routinely assists state/local agencies on significant structure fires, particularly involving chemical-history or Superfund sites. Treat the investigation as genuinely open until a fire marshal determination is released.

Ownership & Operations

The building last operated as Galaxie Chemical Corporation, a pigment and dye manufacturer that took over the site in the mid-to-late 1980s and abandoned it around 2006. Per the EPA, the parcel has hosted various commercial and dye-manufacturing operations since the 1960s.

The site is a designated EPA Superfund site (Galaxie Chemical Corp, EPA ID 0203165). Federal agents previously sought a warrant to enter the abandoned property in 2018 after chemical drums were found on-site. Officials stated at the April 3 fire that hazardous chemicals had been removed from the structure approximately one year prior (circa 2025) and that no chemicals were found on-site at the time of the fire.

Current legal ownership of the parcel was not named in the news reporting reviewed. Adjacent property owner Elvio Taveras appears in CBS coverage but is not identified as the owner of 17 E. Main St. itself.

Suspect / Arrests

None. No suspect named, no arrests, no charges.

Labor Connection

None identified. This is an abandoned-building fire at a Superfund site with a known squatter problem. There is no active workforce, no active employer, no union footprint, and no wage dispute tied to this facility. Nothing in the public reporting links this incident to labor action, protest, or the Kimberly-Clark/Ontario arson narrative.

Social Media Reaction

No notable circulation tying the Paterson fire to the Kimberly-Clark cluster was found in this research pass. The fire drew local/regional coverage (CBS New York, ABC7 NY, NJ.com, Daily Voice, Hoodline) and some national video pickup (ABC News, Yahoo), but did not appear to be folded into the online "wave of warehouse arsons" speculation the way later April incidents were. The facility's profile — vacant since 2006, known squatter presence, Superfund designation — does not fit the labor-protest frame being applied elsewhere.