Soundview Paper Makes Statement on Fire that Engulfed New Jersey Tissue Mill

Rob Baron, president and CEO of Soundview Paper Company, issued the following statement regarding the fire at the Elmwood Park facility (also known as Marcal Paper Mills):

“On Wednesday afternoon (Jan 30), a devastating fire engulfed our mill in Elmwood Park. In the hours that followed, first responders from multiple surrounding communities exhibited extraordinary bravery, commitment and skill - risking their lives fighting this terrible blaze in frigid conditions. We are enormously grateful for their selfless service. The full extent of the damage to our facility is not yet known, but we know the impact will be incalculable to the lives of our dedicated workers and our business as a whole. We are fortunate and thankful that none of the nearly 200 employees working at the mill at the time of the fire were injured, and we are assisting the first responders on site in every way we can.

“Our top priority in the coming days and weeks will be to support our associates at Marcal whose lives will be directly impacted by this disaster. We will have further updates as the situation unfolds.”

In the wake of the devastating fire that left 500 people unemployed, company officials are focusing on the future of the workers, with parent company Soundview Paper, outlining assistance available.

The Marcal tissue mill on Interstate 80 in Elmwood Park, NJ burned entirely. This mill is less than 15 miles from New York City, and the winding/frigid (zero degrees Fahrenheit) conditions made it impossible for the mill to be saved as the fire went to 8 or 9 alarms. This mill has about 140,000 tons of annual tissue capacity, equal to 1.5 percent of the US’s 9 million tons of capacity.

The Marcal mill was built in the wake of the Great Depression in the 1930s. After falling into financial difficulty in the early 2000s, the mill changed hands a few times and was last acquired by Atlas Holdings under its subsidiary Soundview Paper. Until the fire, the mill operated two machines, one built in 1978 (and rebuilt in 2008) with 73,000 tons of capacity and the other built in 1999 with 67,000 tons. The mill made both branded and private label tissue for both institutional and retail customers. The current owners made a point of reviving the historic Marcal sign in recent years.

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