Firefighters struggle to battle blazes in brutally cold temperatures from New Jersey to Indiana

Fires broke out from New Jersey to New York to Indiana.

January 31, 2019, 11:09 AM

Firefighters from New Jersey and New York to Indiana are pushing through the brutally cold temperatures to do their jobs.

Ice forms on tree branches as New York firefighters battle a blaze in a commercial building in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Jan. 31, 2019, in N.Y.
Mark Lennihan/AP
More than a dozen fire companies work at the scene of a fire at Lindy's Paving warehouse, Jan. 31, 2019, in Big Beaver Township, Pa.
Andrew Rush/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP

In New Jersey, a monstrous fire broke out Wednesday night at a paper mill in Elmwood Park.

The fire was so massive people that people flying into Newark International Airport could see it.

Firefighters battle a four alarm fire at the Marcal paper factory in Elmwood Park, N.J., Jan. 30, 2019.
Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com via USA Today Network

More than 150 firefighters descended on the scene. The temperature hovered near 4 degrees, with a wind chill of negative 12.

The fire was under control early Thursday morning, officials said. No one was injured, officials added.

The aftermath of a massive fire at a paper mill in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Jan. 31, 2019.
Governor Phil Murphy/Twitter
The aftermath of a massive fire at a paper mill in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Jan. 31, 2019.
Governor Phil Murphy/Twitter

In New York City, where temperatures plunged to 2 degrees, the coldest of the year, a 5-alarm fire in Brooklyn posed "challenging conditions for our firefighters," the New York City Fire Department tweeted. No injuries were reported.

New York firefighters battle a blaze in a commercial building in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Jan. 31, 2019 in N.Y.
Mark Lennihan/AP

In Camden, New Jersey, firefighters had to use a blow torch to thaw out frozen fire hydrants.

Firefighters also struggled in the Midwest.

St. Paul firefighters at the scene of a house fire during a arctic deep freeze, Jan. 30, 2019, in St. Paul, Minn.
David Joles/Star Tribune via AP

In Cameron, Wisconsin, where the wind chill fell to minus 52 Wednesday, fire chief Mitch Hansen looked more like an ice sculpture after fighting a fire.

Fire Chief Mitch Hansen in Cameron, Wis., on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, after battling a house fire in minus 50 wind chills. The overspray from the hoses was hitting firefighters as ice pellets.
Cameron Fire Assistant Chief Bilbo Gifford

And in Plainfield, Indiana, frozen crews fought an unrelenting blaze at a trash facility, leaving fire equipment coated with ice.

"The weather and large amount of trash is making this a daunting task," the Plainfield Fire Territory said on Facebook.

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