Passaic, Jan 30 (AP) A massive fire engulfed a northern New Jersey recycling plant overnight and raged into Saturday morning as firefighters battled flames, frigid cold and wind.

The blaze broke out around midnight at the Atlantic Coast Fibers plant in Passaic, sending flames shooting into the dark as 20 fire departments converged to fight them, officials said.

There were at least two explosions, one involving a truck with gas tanks on it, Mayor Hector Lora said.

Smoke continued to billow high into the sky after sunup, and Lora said firefighters were planning to tap the Passaic River for water to keep dousing an inferno that could take days to extinguish completely.

“When you consider a recycling plant, everything inside is conducive for continuing to burn,” he told WABC-TV in a phone interview, calling the building “a complete loss.”

He said one firefighter had been taken to a hospital with exhaustion, and another after a fall.

The flames erupted on a "punch-you-in-the-face cold” night, as the mayor put it, with temperatures in the teens.

Atlantic Coast Fibers processes cardboard, paper, plastic containers, and other materials for recycling, according to its website. The family-run company dates back over 80 years.(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)