Fire Starts At Hackensack Shopping Mall: Authorities

HACKENSACK, NJ — A fire started on Tuesday at the shopping mall on Hackensack Avenue, when cardboard boxes caught fire, Hackensack Fire Department Captain Justin Derevyanik said.

Mostly extinguished by the sprinkler system, the fire, which occurred in the hallway between Barnes & Noble and The Cheesecake Factory at The Shops at Riverside, was deemed not suspicious, fire officials said.

Fire companies checked for any fire extension and ventilated. No injuries were reported, officials said.

Both stores, however, received minor water damage, and fluid from a fire suppression system contaminated the grill in the cooking area of the kitchen, when a worker set the system off thinking the grills were the source of the smoke, officials said.

Hackensack Health Department closed the kitchen down temporarily due to contamination, officials said.