Hundreds Evacuated After Threat to CF Office Building

An anonymous caller issued a threat against a Cranford office building Tuesday afternoon, sparking the evacuation of hundreds of employees and a multi-agency emergency response.

At about 1 p.m., the suspect allegedly telephoned the Cranford Police Department, "asked to speak with a supervisor and made a nonspecific threat" to the building located at 20 Commerce Drive, according to Cranford Detective Sgt. Gerard P. Quinn. The building is located in the Cranford Business Park, situated off Raritan Road. 

About 400 employees of several different companies housed in the office building were in the process of evacuating when police arrived. 

Although the caller did not specify the threat, Quinn said, police treated the incident as a worst-case scenario that assumed an explosive device was located within the building. Union County police K-9 units swept the building and, finding nothing, gave the all-clear. Employees were allowed back inside just before 3 p.m.

"We heard stomping down the stairs and didn't know what was going on," said Lori Pisan, an employee at Jersey Mortgage. "Our receptionist called down to the front desk and they told us to evacuate. Then the fire alarms went off, too."

Kim Nardini, one of Pisan's coworkers at Jersey Mortgage, added, "They kept pushing us farther and farther away.... They wouldn't let us go to our cars or leave because they were too close to the building."

Cranford fire and emergency medical workers set-up tents and fans and distributed water to help keep workers cool in the 90-degree heat. Police did not evacuate neighboring buildings. Quinn said police have no leads at this point and are working to determine the caller's location.

The large four-story building houses branches of several corporations, including Bank of America, Canon, Allied Brokerage Services, Weiss-Rohlig, CleanNet, Chinook Sciences, Jersey Mortgage Company and others.