A four-alarm fire tore through the roof of a tire shop on Goffle Road in Hawthorne, New Jersey on Tuesday, sending crews scrambling to fight the blaze from outside the building as it burned through the structure. Minor injuries were reported, and firefighters worked to knock down the flames as the fire prompted a large emergency response that grew to include a fourth alarm bringing additional resources to the scene.
According to WABC-TV, the fire burned through the building's roof and prompted firefighters to operate from outside rather than entering the structure. Initial reports identified the address as 136 Goffle Road, a building that houses Hawthorne's Tire Center on the ground floor with residential apartments on the second floor, according to Daily Voice. That mixed-use setup meant firefighters had to contend with both a commercial fire fueled by rubber and petroleum products and the possibility of residents needing to evacuate from the floor above. The cause of the fire had not yet been determined as of Tuesday's reporting.
Foam Shortage Overheard on Scanner
Over fire radio scanners Tuesday, a Hawthorne fire chief was overheard saying the blaze could have been extinguished sooner if firefighting foam had been readily available at the scene, the same Daily Voice report notes. Petroleum and rubber fires typically require specialized Class B fire-suppression foam that standard water streams struggle to knock down effectively.
The apparent equipment gap comes just months after New Jersey's ban on Class B firefighting foams containing PFAS “forever chemicals” took full effect. Under state legislation signed in January 2024, the sale, manufacture, distribution, and use of those foams became illegal statewide as of January 8, 2026, according to Flaster Greenberg. The law was meant to curb groundwater contamination linked to legacy firefighting foams, but it has also forced departments statewide to transition to newer, fluorine-free alternatives.
A Longtime Neighborhood Tire Shop
The business at the center of the fire, Hawthorne's Tire Center, also operates as Bob's Tires & Wheels. It is a family-owned shop founded in 1978 that has run out of the 136 Goffle Road location since 1989, per the company's own history.
Help arrived quickly given the shop's location. The Hawthorne Volunteer Fire Department's Fire Company #3 station sits at 112 Goffle Road, just blocks from Tuesday's fire, according to the Borough of Hawthorne. Hawthorne's all-volunteer fire department is made up of five companies with more than 100 members combined, and the department responded to over 600 emergency alarms in 2024, the borough's records show.
Why Tire Fires Burn So Hot and Dirty
Tire fires present a distinct challenge for firefighters because of how hot and persistent they burn. Research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows burning passenger tires can reach internal temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and generate more than two gallons of highly flammable, toxic pyrolytic oil per tire. That runoff can seep into soil and water or reignite nearby materials long after crews think a fire is out.
The EPA also reports that open tire combustion produces dense smoke loaded with toxic air pollutants, including benzene, synthetic rubber compounds, volatile organic compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Smoke rose from the fire scene on Goffle Road as firefighters worked, consistent with the kind of heavy, chemical-laden plume typically produced by burning rubber and petroleum products.
Not the First Multi-Alarm Test on Goffle Road
Tuesday's fire is not the first major test for crews along this stretch of Hawthorne. In December 2025, Hawthorne firefighters battled another multi-alarm fire on Goffle Road, where rapid fire spread through a historic multi-family structure forced crews into defensive exterior hose line tactics, according to News 12 New Jersey. Defensive operations, in which crews fight a fire from outside rather than entering, are typically used when structural instability or fast-moving flames make interior entry unsafe — the same approach firefighters took at the tire shop this week.
The scope of scrap tire hazards has also drawn federal attention. In March 2026, the EPA proposed updated regulations under the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials rule aimed at streamlining the industrial burning of discarded scrap tires in cement kilns, an effort intended to reduce fire risks and disease vectors tied to tire stockpiles nationally, according to the Environmental Law Monitor. It remains unclear whether Hawthorne authorities are testing for pyrolytic contamination from Tuesday's fire or how mutual aid agencies coordinated resources at the scene.
