Introduction
Albert Jones was born May 21, 1940. His mother Rhoda remarried in the very late 1950s or early 1960s to a retired Camden policeman, Ira A. Hall.
After serving in the United States Army, Albert Jones was appointed to the Camden Fire Department. He served with the department as a firefighter and as an arson investigator. He left the department in 1982. Last a resident of Williamstown, he passed away on November 11, 2008, survived by his wife, Mary Ann, six children, Anthony Jones, Angelo Jones, Troy Butler, Brandon Mays, Carol Mays, Albert Jones Jr., and Andre Jones-Leary, three step-daughters, Michele, Tracey, and Diana Brooks, and companion Louise Butler.
Photos
Albert Jones, November 1964.
Albert Jones.
6 City Firemen Take Oaths
Camden Courier-Post —
6 City Firemen Take Oaths
Department Rolls Now Total 176
Six new members of the Camden Fire Department yesterday were sworn into office by City Clerk Odorisio at ceremonies in the office of Director of Public Safety Kauffman.
The men and one other, to be sworn in Dec. 7, complete the present list of eligibles for the fire department. Kauffman said he will request the Civil Service Commission to set dates for new examinations for fire candidates. The city now enrolls 176 men in the department.
The new members are Daniel J. Sheppard, 22, of 1340 Dayton St.; Joseph W. Convery, 27, of 157 Eutaw Ave.; John R. Hertz, 23, of 2916 Congress Rd.; Albert E. Collum Jr., 28, of 2409 Howell St.; David W. Sanders, 31, of 821 Line St., and Albert Jones, 24, of 220 N. 11th St. The seventh man is Daniel O. Mulvey, 24, of 23 N. 25th St.
The men will be assigned to the fire training school for one month and for one week at a fire school at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
3-Alarm Blaze in S. Camden: Fire Hydrant Vandalism Cited
Camden Courier-Post —
Camden’s director of public works today cited vandalism and improper equipment as reasons for yesterday’s fire hydrant problem at the scene of a three-alarm fire at 1729 Railroad Avenue.
Angelo Errichetti said the hydrant at 7th and Van Hook Streets, had been repaired Sept. 19 and charged vandals with damaging it again. The director also said that water department employes removed the cap on the hydrant opposite 614 Van Hook Street following the fire.
Firemen charged they were unable to remove the cap at the time of the fire.
Errichetti said he will have the fire department equipped with heavier wrenches in preparation for a similar incident.
The fire, which destroyed an unoccupied house before it was brought under control, apparently was caused by vandals, according to Fire Capt. Philip A. Stinger. He added that the blaze is under investigation.
The blaze also sparked a double probe when Fire Chief Edward V. Michalak charged the two hydrants were “faulty.” The chief requested an explanation from the water department.
Errichetti explained that the city’s 1750 hydrants are inspected continually as often as manpower provides. He called vandalism the department’s biggest problem.
“Vandals break off fittings for the brass content,” he said. “Then they fill the hydrant with dirt, stones and debris which clog the fire pumpers.”
Errichetti also said he has notified all city junk dealers to report to police anyone attempting to sell the hydrant parts. He further cited the failure of motorists to report damaged hydrants following accidents. He said five were damaged during the past weekend.
City Fire Hydrant Vandalism Cited
(Continued From Page One)
The fire, which broke out at 1:28 p.m., destroyed the unoccupied house before it was brought under control at 2 p.m. A nearby home at 1727 Railroad Avenue suffered extensive damage on its roof and wooden window frames, but other neighborhood dwellings were unharmed.
Third Battalion Chief Theodore (Ted) Primas said, however, at its height, the blaze threatened to jump a 10-foot alleyway and burn nearby homes.
2 Firemen Hurt
At one point, the entire rear of the building collapsed and fell inside the walls. Firemen used the roof at 1731 Railroad Avenue to train water into the blazing building.
A fireman, Albert Jones, 26, of 1146 Kenwood Avenue, a member of No. 2 Ladder Company, was treated for a cut left eye at West Jersey Hospital after he was hit by flying glass during “cleanup operations.”
Jones and Thomas Robinson of 1727 Railroad Avenue, who suffered a sprained left ankle while fleeing the intense heat, were the only known victims of the fire.
Unconfirmed reports yesterday claimed one of two vagrants, known by neighbors to have been sleeping in the vacant building, may have been inside when the fire started, but no confirmation was made today.
Photo by Bob Bartosz. Kneeling to hold hose in place, firemen backed off a moment later as rear of vacant building at 1729 Railroad Avenue caved in during three-alarm blaze yesterday. Two persons were hurt. Probe of faulty fire hydrants has been asked. From left: Captain Joseph Wolfinger, Albert Jones, William O’Dennis.
2 Children Die in Fire
Camden Courier-Post —
By Rena S. Kleiman and George Clark, of the Courier-Post.
CAMDEN — Two children were killed last night after a candle touched off a fire that swept through their North Camden home, which authorities say was without electricity and heat.
Ten-year-old Marjorie Balance and her 3-year-old brother, Joseph, were trapped by smoke and flames that originated in the upstairs bathroom of the two-story rowhouse at 844 Bailey St.
It was Camden County’s third fatal fire in four months involving homes where utility service had been cut off and the occupants were using candles for light.
The victims’ parents, Laura and Joseph Balance, were not at home at the time of the fire. They told authorities they had left the children in the care of an adult male baby-sitter. The baby-sitter was not in the house when the fire started, according to police.
Detectives would not identify the baby-sitter and did not know how long the children had been left unattended.
The children’s bodies were found in the second-floor rear bedroom. They were pronounced dead on arrival at Cooper Medical Center. A hospital spokesman said the youngsters died of burns. An autopsy was scheduled for today.
Their 13-year-old brother, Larry, a student at the Pyne Poynt Middle School, managed to escape in time. Neighbors said Larry called to his sister to get out, but she was unable to make it through the smoke and flames.
The fire started about 8 p.m., according to Albert Jones, an inspector with the city fire marshal’s office. Jones said there was no electricity in the house and no evidence that the heat was turned on.
“They were using candles for light,” explained 14-year-old Millie Parilla, a next-door neighbor and a schoolmate of Marjorie Balance at the Northeast School.
She said her family offered the Balances an extension cord connected to an electrical outlet in the Parilla home while the electricity was off, but that the Balances had not accepted the offer.
Francis Wurst, a spokesman for Public Service Electric and Gas Co., said last night that information on electrical service to the Balance house was not immediately available.
2 children killed in house fire
(Continued from Page 1A)
The fire is under investigation by city police, the fire marshal’s office, and the county prosecutor’s office.
In June, two children died and their mother was critically injured when a candle used to light a bathroom set off a fire that destroyed the rowhouse of Janora Outlaw on South Third Street in Camden. Electrical service to the Outlaw home had been shut off 10 days prior to the fatal fire, authorities said.
Less than two weeks ago, a 14-year-old Waterford youth, Paul Ogburn, and a volunteer township firefighter, Carl Hasselhan, were killed in a blaze at a home where the electricity had been shut off. According to police, candles had been used to light the house.
It was the second time in recent weeks that fire claimed lives on tiny Bailey Street in one of the city’s most badly deteriorated neighborhoods. The first one was arson.
On Sept. 22, the bodies of two elderly men were found on the second floor of a home they shared at 834 Bailey St., five doors from the Balance home. Police said the men, John Barrett and Benjamin Shablack, died of smoke inhalation after a fire was set in the row house.
Two men have been charged in the Barrett-Shablack murders and are in Camden County Jail awaiting trial on homicide charges.
Obituary
Camden Courier-Post —
Jones, Albert Sr.
Age 68, previously of Camden, passed away Nov. 11, 2008. He was a Camden firefighter and arson investigator. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, six children, Anthony Jones, Angelo Jones, Troy Butler, Brandon Mays, Carol Mays, Albert Jones Jr., and Andre Jones-Leary, three step-daughters, Michele, Tracey, and Diana Brooks, and companion Louise Butler.
Viewing will be Sat., Nov. 15 11am–12pm at the Norton Funeral Home, 1232 S. Black Horse Pk., Williamstown, NJ where service will be at 12pm. Burial BG Wm. C. Doyle VMC Arneytown on Mon. Nov. 17. In lieu of flowers, family respectfully asks that donations be made to the Kidney Foundation.
Gravesite
