Fire at the Clement Coverall Company

After budget cuts brought on in great part by poor leadership at the state level from both political parties under Governors Whitman, McGreevey, Codey, and Corzine the City of Camden laid off a large number of its professional fire department at the end of 2010. Former Chief David A. Yates had offered three plans on how to cope with the situation, all were rejected by parties at Camden’s City Hall, and a plan for the Fire Department, which to date I have not been able to find out who authored, was handed back to the Chief. Chief Yates subsequently chose to retire, and Chief Michael Harper was appointed as his replacement. Chief Harper inherited a no-win situation, and the losses began almost immediately. With Fire companies closed in different parts of the city, response times to fire calls increased, homes that could have been saved were destroyed, and civilians injured.

On June 6, 2011 a vacant two-story twin at 821–823 of Chestnut Street was destroyed by fire. Three days later, on June 9, fire broke out in the abandoned warehouse on Chestnut Street that formerly housed the Reliable Tire Company. When the few available local units arrived on the scene, hydrants were found to have been vandalized, delaying efforts to extinguish the blaze, which soon went to 12 alarms. Units were called in from surrounding communities, obviously taking a great deal of time to arrive on scene. In the mean time, high winds caused the fire to spread to adjacent buildings that formerly were occupied by the Camden Pottery Company, and homes on Orchard, Louis, and Mount Vernon Streets. Ten occupied homes were completely destroyed, as were all the industrial buildings, and thirteen other homes on Chestnut Street were badly damaged by smoke and water. Conditions and results of this blaze mimicked in almost every way the Poet’s Row fire of August, 1972 where a vacant leather factory once occupied by the John R. Evans & Company caught fire and two and one-half full city blocks of homes on Byron, Burns, and Milton Streets were completely and utterly destroyed… a deadly combination of an old and abandoned industrial building, short-staffed fire department, low water pressure and high winds being among the contributing factors.

In the early morning hours of June 11, 2011 another abandoned industrial building was reported to be on fire. The former Howland Croft, Sons & Company mill on Broadway between Winslow and Jefferson Streets was devastated by a blaze that went to eight alarms. One house at the corner of South 4th and Winslow and three homes on Winslow Street were damaged by smoke and water, but fortunately, none were destroyed.

Rumors of arson were flying through the city when, on Tuesday, June 14 a vacant twin at 107 North 34th Street was gutted, with the adjacent home taking a great deal of smoke and water damage.

On June 19, another vacant industrial building went up in flames. The building in the 1600 block of Federal Street, originally a soap works and in more recent times a facility belonging to Concord Chemical, went up in flames. This fire was confirmed as an arson a few days later.

In the meantime, calls for fire service great and small continued. On June 23rd, a vacant industrial building in the 1000 block of Empire Avenue saw fire, just a few days after the Concord Chemical blaze. On June 25th, a fire was knocked down in the vacant building at Davis and Copewood Streets, the original home of the Coriell Institute, now located on Haddon Avenue.

At 11:47 PM on the night of June 25, the Camden Fire Department was called on to extinguish a blaze at 1018 Kenwood Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood. Camden City companies were dispatched to 1018 Kenwood Avenue when multiple callers reported a working fire. Camden County Dispatch advised that the homeowner had gone back into the dwelling and did not exit. EMS arrived and reported all occupants to be out of the structure. Squad 7 arrived with heavy fire showing from division 2 of a two story end of the row dwelling. Battalion 1 placed all hands in service. Crews knocked the fire quickly without injuries. Another fire was extinguished at 925 & 927 North 3rd Street on Monday, June 27th.

In the early morning hours of July 2, 2011 a fire was extinguished at 1304 Sheridan Street, and as it was being wrapped up, the corner store at 876 Fairview Street went up in flames, with adjoining homes being damaged by smoke and water.

At 1:55 AM on the morning of July 5, 2011 units of the Camden Fire Department extinguished a fire at the River Link Ferry pier at Wiggins Park. Ron Trout from www.phillyfirenews.com reported that B/C 1 reported he had fire on the River Link Ferry Pier with extension to the actual ferry. Engine 6 went in service with the deck gun as Squad 7 and the rest of Engine 6’s crew stretched 2.5 inch hand lines. S/C PFD Marine Unit 1. Command reported the fire was contained to the pier with minimal extension to the ferry.

Another vacant industrial building fell on the night of July 5, 2011 when the former home of the Clement Coverall Company at 615 Van Hook Street was destroyed by fire. The building, which dated back to at least 1896, had been designated a hazardous site by the EPA, Clement Coverall having been in the manufacture of varnishes and coatings for over 80 years at that location. The fire went to two alarms, with units from Gloucester City, Oaklyn, and Collingswood rendering assistance to Camden’s Fire Department. The fire was determined to have been an arson, and a drug-abusing prostitute who had been squatting in the building was arrested for setting the fire.

See also: The Fires of the Summer of 2011

CAMDEN — July 5, 2011 (WPVI) — Fire crews responded to a multi-alarm blaze in the city of Camden Tuesday night.

The fire broke out shortly after 9:30 p.m. at an abandoned warehouse along 6th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard.

Officials tell Action News the fire threatened at least half a dozen nearby homes and some of those residents were evacuated.

“I live right across the street from it and we seen some red glow coming through the windows, we didn’t know if our house was on fire or what. We came out and the flames were shooting out the top window, about 15 feet in the air,” neighbor Ben Cracolici said.

Cracolici says he could feel the heat against the houses from across the street.

The fire was brought under control at 10:30 p.m.

The warehouse once was known as the Coverall Paint Factory; it is believed to have been vacant for at least the last 15 to 20 years.

There were no reports of injuries.

This was the sixth multi-alarm Camden fire in a month’s time.

The fire on June 19th at a detergent factory has been declared arson. The others remain under investigation.

by Robert Moran

A two-alarm blaze erupted Tuesday night at a warehouse in Camden, which has been plagued by arsons that are being investigated by federal authorities.

The fire was reported about 9:30 p.m. at a warehouse at Sixth Street and Carl Miller Boulevard, officials said. There was a partial roof collapse. No injuries were reported and the blaze was declared under control around 10:30 p.m. The cause of the fire was unknown, and it was not immediately known if the warehouse was being used or was vacant.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives sent a team to Camden at local officials’ request. The city has been hit with several recent arsons at vacant warehouses, including a 12-alarm blaze June 9 and an eight-alarm blaze two days later. Anyone with information about the fires has been asked to call 1-888-283-3473.

Sanborn maps diagrams of the buildings and streets in the vicinity of the Clement Coverall Company fire.

by Lucas K. Murray

CAMDEN — A two-alarm fire ripped through an abandoned factory in South Camden late Tuesday night, destroying another vacant building.

Firefighters were called to 6th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard just after 10 p.m. to the former Clement’s coverall facility.

There crews were met with flames shooting from the front windows. Within an hour, the fire was placed under control.

Fire Chief Michael Harper said Clement’s was a maker of paints and lacquers, who pulled out of Camden about 15 years ago.

No one was hurt, but some homes across the boulevard started to smoke as the flames grew more intense.

“Our guys did a great job of putting it down, keeping it contained,” Harper said. “We were a little concerned that the nearby homes were going to go up.”

This was the fourth major fire in an old manufacturing or retail facility in the city in a month.

On June 9, a 12-alarm fire destroyed the former Reliable Tire building and the better part of two city blocks in Camden’s Gateway section.

Just as firefighters were putting out the last hot spots in the burning rubble, they were summoned to an early morning fire at an old fabric and garment factory on Broadway in Waterfront South on June 11.

Then on June 19, fire destroyed the vacant Concord Chemical building on Federal Street.

The blaze at the recently remediated EPA Superfund site was deemed an arson by federal officials. A cause of the latest fire and the first two have not been determined.

Despite all the major calls, Harper said his firefighters are still dedicated to serving the city.

“They’re always willing to do what they have to do,” Harper said. “They’re workers. I’m proud of them.”

The chief said the contents of the three-story building were largely gone. Firefighters were there about a month ago to put out a trash fire.

by Peter Mucha

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fifth fire in a month in a vacant warehouse building in Camden.

The rash of fires in structures mostly from the city’s faded industrial era has prompted the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to send a team to help Camden officials determine what is happening.

The latest fire — a two-alarm blaze — was reported about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at the old Clement Coverall Co. plant at Sixth Street and Carl Miller Boulevard in the Centerville neighborhood, officials said.

No injuries were reported and the blaze was declared under control around 10:30 p.m.

The upper floor of the two-story brick building collapsed during the fire.

Ben Cracolici, 56, who is staying with friends across the street from the building, said flames were leaping from the top floor windows at the height of the blaze.

“The smoke was outrageous,” he said. “We were lucky the smoke was blowing away from the house.”

Cracolici said fire marshals were asking residents if they had heard an explosion, but none reported that they did.

According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the building was closed in 1996.

It said Clement Coverall had manufactured both solvent and water based industrial paints and varnishes at the site starting in 1926.

Previous businesses included a hosiery factory (1891–1906) and leather tanning operation (1906–1926), the DEP said.

Firefighters were still at the site this morning, hosing down smoking embers.

Investigators have determined that arson was the cause of a fire June 20 in a former detergent factory in East Camden.

Three earlier suspicious warehouse blazes remain under investigation, although determining the causes in the first two may prove difficult, officials say.

The first suspicious fire was a 12-alarm blaze June 9 that started in a former tire-distribution center near the city’s Parkside section that damaged 23 buildings, 10 of them occupied. More than half of the buildings were severely damaged, and 16 families lost their homes.

A second, eight-alarm fire occurred June 11, gutting a former garment factory in the Waterfront South neighborhood. Homes near the factory were largely spared.

The June 20 fire was the third blaze and on June 23 a one-alarm blaze burned through an abandoned building on the 1000 block of Magnolia Avenue in the Parkside section.

The ATF has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the June 20 East Camden fire.

Anyone with information is asked to call a special hotline at 1-888-283-3473.

Camden has about 3,000 abandoned buildings, many of which are used frequently by drug dealers, prostitutes, and scrap metal thieves.

by Lucas K. Murray & George Mast

CAMDEN — Two major Camden fires in less than a week last month might be considered coincidence in a city suffering from the dry, June heat.

But two more blazes since in similar buildings have residents wondering whether there’s an arsonist on the loose.

The two-alarm fire Tuesday—the smallest of four to hit century-old buildings in recent weeks—gutted the former Clement Coverall Co., a structure at 6th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard that most recently housed an industrial paints and varnishes manufacturer.

Resident Gene Robinson is among many convinced the string of fires is more than mere coincidence.

“Something definitely bigger is going on here,” Robinson said while waiting outside nearby Creative Arts High School to pick up his younger cousin. “It’s getting out of control.

“This won’t be the last one either.”

Robinson cited theories on the street about who could be behind the fires, everything from building owners seeking insurance money, to disgruntled firefighters protesting layoffs to efforts at redeveloping tracts of land in Camden.

“Nobody is in fear of their houses being burned down; they are just thinking what big building is next?” Robinson said.

The common thread among the fires is that each was a multiple-alarm blaze that destroyed a vacant building. Tuesday’s blaze is being investigated by state and local authorities, along with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Camden County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Jason Laughlin.

ATF officials—who brought in a team of nearly 20 highly trained investigators to investigate the warehouse fire last month at a former chemical plant along Federal Street—didn’t return calls for comment Wednesday. But they have already declared the June 19 Federal Street fire arson.

Causes for a 12-alarm blaze in the city’s Gateway section June 9 and an eight-alarmer days later in neighboring Waterfront South have not been determined.

“Right now, there are a lot of questions, but the severity of the fires and frequency of the fires certainly give us pause,” Laughlin said.

City officials declined to speculate on the possibility of arson.

“All the recent fires are being investigated and the city will continue working with all the law enforcement agencies to find the party or parties responsible for these acts,” City Spokesman Robert Corrales said.

Last month, Police Chief Scott Thomson said his officers would remain diligent in patrolling near abandoned buildings. Mayor Dana Redd said Wednesday, “Our main concern is to keep our residents safe from other potential fires.”

Jessica Massa, 29, ventured up to the burned-out building at 6th and Carl Miller Wednesday to see if two friends who had been squatting inside the old warehouse had escaped the blaze. Massa, who lives in a nearby abandoned building, said the string of recent warehouse fires has alarmed squatters like herself across the city.

“Everybody is concerned,” she said.

Since the fires began, homeless outreach workers have been active in removing squatters from abandoned buildings. But Massa said she and her boyfriend have no plans to move out for now despite fears of an arsonist. With no income, Massa said she has no other option but to stay and hope her building doesn’t erupt in flames.

Antonio Gonzalez had to move out of his house behind the former Concord Chemical plant for 10 days after the large warehouse there went up in flames last month. The 28-year-old musician is concerned an empty food distribution warehouse at the end of his street may be the next to burn.

“The community is definitely worried about this,” Gonzalez said. “It isn’t good. (Warehouses) are all over the place.”

There are a number of abandoned structures in Gonzalez’s neighborhood. Across the street from Concord Chemical, a massive structure sits empty—home to squatters.

In South Camden, Pastor Al Stewart of Camden Rescue Mission cited a clear concern among residents, but he sees hope.

“I’m suspicious that given the investigations that have gone on and the conclusions they’ve drawn, that we have a firebug problem here in the city,” Stewart said.

“We’re going to work with the council and our mayor and police and fire departments to resolve this problem.”

Camden Rescue Mission acquired the Clement Coverall building through a donation more than 10 years ago, Stewart said. The intent was to use the space as a warehouse facility for the mission’s work.

That was until it was discovered the 1.33-acre site was contaminated with dangerous chemicals from its former life as a fabric dying company, a leather tanning operation and a paint and varnish company.

“We discovered after we received it that it was a brownfield and that there were some environmental problems there,” Stewart said, adding that a $28,000 grant was being pursued to facilitate a cleanup.

If there is an arsonist, he added, it’s going to take the effort of all of Camden City.

“The city will get beyond this. It’s a matter of us pulling together our resources, which is our people.

“The most important product of Camden is our people and getting them to pay attention.”

by Claudia Vargas

CAMDEN — Two major Camden fires in less than a week last month might be considered coincidence in a city suffering from the dry, June heat.

As a yellow excavator picked up debris on a grassy field behind what was left of a former paint manufacturing plant, men in hard hats, boots, and T-shirts with law enforcement logos searched for evidence in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood.

Wednesday was deja vu for area fire investigators and Camden residents. The fourth major vacant warehouse fire within a month brought back arson teams and law enforcement personnel from the city, county, and state levels.

“It’s not fun anymore. It’s actually disrespectful,” Camden Fire Chief Michael Harper said of the rash of fires that has taken a toll on his department.

Tuesday evening’s two-alarm blaze was reported about 9:30 at the old Clement Coverall Co. plant at Sixth Street and Carl Miller Boulevard. No injuries were reported.

Investigators from the Newark field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with the state Arson Unit and fire marshal, are trying to find the cause of the Clement warehouse fire as well as determine whether the four fires are connected, Harper said.

The mechanism used to start these fires is the focus now, Harper said, because that could lead investigators to determine whether the same person or group of people is behind the warehouse fires.

“But we have not gotten there yet,” Harper said.

The first two fires — a 12-alarm blaze June 9 that started in a former tire-distribution center near the city’s Parkside section and an eight-alarm fire June 11 that gutted a former garment factory in the Waterfront South neighborhood — remain under investigation.

The first fire damaged 23 buildings, 10 of them occupied. More than half of the buildings were severely damaged, and 16 families lost their homes.

The third large warehouse fire, June 20 at a former detergent plant in East Camden, was ruled arson after the ATF sent in a specialized team to help Camden officials comb through any possible evidence.

The team spent four days on the scene before confirming that the Concord Chemical Co. fire at 17th and Federal Streets was set. No arrests have been made.

On June 23, firefighters battled a one-alarm fire in a warehouse on Magnolia Avenue in Parkside.

Harper suspects the heightened awareness of the previous warehouse fires led to a quicker alert, allowing firefighters to control this fire faster.

Because such large fires require a lot of manpower and resources to extinguish, assisting suburban fire companies, which are mostly volunteer, have also been affected by the calls. And the summer heat does not help the situation, said Robert Mortka, president of the Camden County Fire Chiefs Association.

“The guys get beat down very easily,” Mortka said.

Fires at vacant buildings can be very dangerous because their structure is usually in such bad shape that walls and roofs can come down easily during a fire, officials said.

The upper floor of the two-story brick building collapsed during Tuesday’s fire. Two firefighters rushed out of the building moments before the collapse, Harper said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection had the Clement building, which closed in 1996, listed in its site-remediation program. It was not clear Wednesday afternoon whether any cleanup had been done.

Starting in 1926, Clement Coverall manufactured solvent- and water-based industrial paints and varnishes, according to the state website. Previous businesses included a hosiery factory (1891–1906) and leather tanning operation (1906–26), the DEP said.

The site is about six blocks from the June 11 fire at Winslow and Fourth Streets.

Though Camden has many vacant warehouses, this cluster of fire calls is rare, Harper said.

“We get them from time to time, but to get them all in such a short amount of time is unusual,” Harper said.

The suburban departments that have been assisting Camden for several years with difficult fires also have noticed the difference with these recent fires.

“There’s a specific problem here,” Mortka said. “These fires aren’t starting by themselves.”

The ATF has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the June 20 East Camden fire.

Camden police have arrested a homeless woman for allegedly starting Tuesday night’s two-alarm blaze at an abandoned warehouse in South Camden.

Authorities confirmed this morning that police charged Tammy Schipp on Wednesday evening with lighting the fire. Schipp is not believed to be connected to three previous multi-alarm fires at similar vacant warehouses throughout the city.

Schipp had been living with her boyfriend in the warehouse at 6th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard. Prosecutor’s spokesman Jason Laughlin said Schipp allegedly lit a mattress on fire inside the building Tuesday night during a dispute with her boyfriend, sparking the blaze.

Schipp is charged with aggravated arson.

by Phillip Lucas

The flames and thick smoke that Camden firefighters fought to contain in an abandoned warehouse Tuesday night began with a lit cigarette and papers stuffed beneath a mattress after a lovers’ squabble, prosecutors said yesterday.

An argument between squatters in the abandoned factory on 6th Street near Carl Miller Boulevard led Tami Shipp, 35, to set the fire about 10 p.m. that destroyed the building, said Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

After allegedly using the cigarette to ignite the papers, Shipp left the abandoned building without telling her boyfriend about the blaze, which soon engulfed the mattress and eventually the entire building, prosecutors said. No one was injured.

Shipp faces charges of aggravated arson and was being held in the Camden County Jail on $100,000 bail.

The fire is not connected to any other blazes that have torn through the city’s abandoned warehouses in recent weeks, Laughlin said. Officials are still investigating three suspicious fires that destroyed abandoned buildings last month to determine whether they were connected.

A June 19 blaze that destroyed a shuttered chemical plant has been ruled an arson.

Officials are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects responsible for the fires.

Anyone with information on the arsonist is encouraged to call the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at 1-888-ATF-FIRE.

by Claudia Vargas

A female squatter set fire to a vacant Camden warehouse Tuesday night following a lovers’ quarrel, according to authorities. But officials do not believe she played a role in other recent warehouse fires in the city.

Tammie Shipp, 35, was charged Wednesday evening with aggravated arson in connection with the two-alarm blaze at a former paint manufacturing plant at Sixth Street and Carl Miller Boulevard in Camden’s Waterfront South section.

Shipp, who had set up living quarters at the warehouse—vacant since 1996, when Clement Coverall Co. stopped operating—is accused of using a lit cigarette to ignite paper under a mattress following a dispute with her boyfriend, who was present at the time.

Neither Shipp nor the boyfriend was injured in the fast-moving fire.

Authorities do not believe Shipp is connected to last month’s string of warehouse fires, which remain under investigation by local and state law enforcement agencies and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“The motive here was a kind of revenge on her lover,” said Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson.

Shipp is being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility on $126,500 bail.

The first two warehouse fires were a 12-alarm blaze on June 9 that started in a former tire-distribution center near the city’s Parkside section and an eight-alarm fire on June 11 that gutted a former garment factory in Waterfront South.

The June 9 fire damaged 23 buildings, 10 of them occupied. More than half of the buildings were severely damaged, and 16 families lost their homes.

The third multi-alarm warehouse fire, on June 19 at a former detergent plant in East Camden, has been ruled arson by the ATF, which sent a team to assist Camden officials in combing through evidence. No arrests have been made.

Because of the suspicious nature of the fires, local, state, and federal agents have created an Arson Task Force. Six Camden police detectives are on the team.

Following Tuesday’s fire, which was reported about 10 p.m., officers canvassed the neighborhood and received tips that Shipp lived in the building.

Shipp, who was known to police for previous drug- and prostitution-related offenses, was apprehended Wednesday in an alley near the 1700 block of Broadway. She was charged with arson in connection with the fire and charged with aggravated assault for an unrelated July 2 incident in which she allegedly cut a woman’s face with a box cutter behind an abandoned home at 518 Carl Miller Boulevard. She faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of arson.

Though at least one arsonist remains at large, Camden Fire Chief Michael Harper said it was good to get “some closure” on one of the warehouse fires.

“It provides a bit of a sense of relief,” said Helene Pierson, executive director of Heart of Camden, a nonprofit group involved in redevelopment of Waterfront South. After Tuesday’s fire there was “greater concern” in the neighborhood, which has at least one other large, vacant warehouse, Pierson said.

The ATF has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the East Camden fire. Anyone with information is asked to call a hotline at 1-888-283-3473.