Dumpster fire
noun
Literal: A fire occurring in a dumpster; a blaze involving discarded waste contained in a large trash receptacle.
Figurative: A situation, event, or entity characterized by complete chaos, failure, or mismanagement; a disastrous or poorly handled scenario.
North Jersey’s long love affair with metaphorical disasters
There was an honest-to-goodness dumpster fire in North Jersey this week. And if you’re anything like me, your brain immediately jumps to the figurative definition—complete chaos, failure, or good old-fashioned mismanagement.
Because let’s be real: North Jersey has no shortage of metaphorical dumpster fires. There’s the Parkway merge at Exit 145 (a choose-your-own-adventure nobody actually chooses), the Hoboken street-sweeping shuffle where residents play musical chairs with their cars to avoid tickets, or the New Jersey Transit train that’s “only” 45 minutes late. Add in the Route 3 left-lane exit panic, the Paramus Retail Bermuda Triangle of U-turns, brake lights, and people forgetting which store they were even headed to, and of course the grand finale—leaving MetLife after a game. I could go on. Truly. But I’ll spare us.
A real dumpster fire at American Dream—just not the dramatic kind
But this week’s Bergen County dumpster fire? It was real—just not nearly as dramatic as the figurative ones above.
What sparked the Route 3 dumpster fire at American Dream?
On November 20, 2025, a small fire sparked in a dumpster at the American Dream entertainment and retail complex on Route 3 in East Rutherford. Complex officials said it broke out in a loading-dock area outside the building, and out of an abundance of caution, they evacuated the place.
Evacuation, response and reopening
New Jersey State Police said the fire was small and not suspicious. Since it happened before retail hours, only a handful of people needed to be cleared out, and American Dream still opened right on time at 11 a.m.
So in the grand canon of North Jersey dumpster fires, this one barely makes the playlist—but hey, at least for once, the only thing going up in flames on Route 3 was an actual dumpster and not our collective sanity.
Professional Sports Teams That Play In New Jersey
Professional Sports Teams That Play In New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Vin Ebenau
