Introduction
James J. Creato was born in Italy on May 16, 1897 to Salvino and Lucia Creatore. His father came to the United States in 1901 and settled in Camden, in time shortening the family name to Creato. In 1906 Salvino sent to Italy for his wife and the three children left behind, Antoinette, James, and Daniel Creato. The family was living at 209 Clinton Street in 1914, 216 Clinton Street in September of 1918 and the spring of 1919, and had moved to 224 Clinton Street by January of 1920. His brother Daniel Creato graduated from Camden High School in 1919, the first class to graduate from the newly built school in Parkside.
The 1929 Camden City Directory shows James Creato, city fireman, and his wife Caroline, living at 1629 Maryland Street. He had been appointed to the Camden Fire Department on June 1, 1929 and reported for duty the same day with Ladder Company 2 on Kaighn Avenue. The April 1930 Census shows that they had moved to 516 North 7th Street, and also that they had an adopted son, Robert, then 3 years of age. Fire Department records from 1931 show James Creato and family living at 1512 South 9th Street. At some point during the 1930s the Creatos moved to 832 North 3rd Street.
Shortly after 7 A.M. on May 23, 1941, a Box was transmitted for a fire at West and Clinton Streets, South Camden. Arriving companies found a three-story commercial building with fire roaring one hundred feet into the sky. A second alarm was transmitted on arrival, followed by third and fourth alarms ordered by Chief John Lennox. The building contained a food market on the ground floor and a clothing factory above. At the height of the blaze, Firemen Clarence McMullen and James Creato narrowly escaped with their lives after a burst of flame nearly enveloped them as they forced an interior door to a shaft. Both members fought their way out under the cover of hose streams directed by their comrades. Chief of Department Lennox and four firemen while at the far end of the blazing building on West Street, heard the shrill cries for help coming from a nearby dwelling. Racing into the home of Mrs. Elizabeth O'Hanlon at 423 Clinton Street, they found an excited albeit unscathed parrot, in a kitchen birdcage still crying for help. The bird was carried to safety by the firemen. The blaze was brought under control at 10:30 A.M. but not before heavily damaging the block long building.
When the 1940 City Directory was being compiled, James J. Creato and family were living at 1327 Argus Road, and they were still at that address when the 1943 edition was being put together. The 1947 Camden City Directory shows James J. Creato, city fire fighter living at 910 North 8th Street in North Camden. However, it also shows James and Caroline Creato operating Creato's Cafe at 202 South 5th Street, the corner of South 5th and Mickle Streets. It is unclear as to what the business arrangements were surrounding the operation of the bar, however, it should be noted that younger brother John Creato is listed as the bar's manager.
James J. Creato was promoted to Captain on October 23, 1953 and sent to Engine Company 3 on Broadway.
The 1956 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory lists his address as 512 North 32nd Street in East Camden. By the fall of 1959 he had moved to Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory. James J. Creato retired on pension in June of 1960. Last a resident of Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey, James Creato passed away in June of 1976.
Dismissed as Tipsy, Fireman Is Heard in Civil Service Plea
Camden Courier-Post —
‘Drunk on Duty’, Former Associates Testify at Garner’s Hearing
DECISION IS RESERVED
Testimony by fellow firemen that he “was so drunk he had to be lifted off a fire truck” marked the hearing of George W. Garner, a city fireman of 1266 Kenwood avenue, before Civil Service Commissioner William S. Etiles yesterday.
The case was the first Civil Service hearing in Camden in two years. Commissioner Stiles reserved decision.
Garner was dismissed on May 4, 1934, by Mayor Stewart in his capacity of director of public safety. The charge was “continued disobedience of orders and intoxication while on duty.” The defendant is married and has two children, one four years and one only three days old.
Capt. James Young, Garner’s superior officer at Engine Company No. 2, 619 Kaighn avenue, testified that he found Garner in a saloon with a woman on the evening of April 30 last.
Ignored Orders
“Garner had asked permission to go out about 7 o’clock and get coffee for the men,” said Captain Young. “Two hours later he went out without permission.
“Senior Captain Lawrence Newton and I went looking for him and found him in a saloon operated by Umberto DiClaudio at Sixth and Kaighn avenue. He was sitting at a table with a woman.
“I asked him what he was doing and he said the woman had a toothache.
“At 2.29 a. m. an alarm sounded, and when we went to take out the fire truck Garner was on the running board unconscious. We couldn’t rouse him and I had to assign two men, Chester Price and Irving Bishop, to carry him off. He was too intoxicated to move.”
Price and Bishop corroborated the testimony of their captain, as also did James A. Creato and William Cummerford. Battalion Chief Leonard Magee, of Engine Company No. 3, testified he saw Garner after the fire and “the man was in a stupor.”
Looked Bad Next Day
Acting Fire Chief John H. Lennox said the next morning when he saw Garner, “He looked to me as if he had had a bad night.”
DiClaudio, the saloon proprietor, denied that Garner had bought anything to drink, saying he sold him 12 boiled eggs to eat.
Garner, on the stand, entered a general denial of the charges. He was represented by Morris Tartar.
Assistant City Solicitor Lewis Lieberman showed the court a resignation signed by Garner and dated March 10.
Three Children Rescued, Three Firemen Injured
Camden Courier-Post —
Father David Kaluhiokalani holds his three children after the rescue from their smoke-filled apartment at 216 State Street.
Three small children were rescued Monday after almost being trapped in their smoke-filled apartment, while in another blaze, two firemen were injured when caught in a shower of broken glass.
The children were rescued by their father, David Kaluhiokaleni, 27, after he made his way up a stairway heavy with smoke and carried them from the third-floor bedroom of their home at 216 State street where they were taking their afternoon naps.
Kaluhiokaleni, employed by the Riverside Metals Co., told police he and his wife put the children — Jacqueline, 4; David, 3 and Joseph, eight months, to sleep about 1:30 p.m. and went downstairs to the apartment of his wife’s sister, Mrs. Cora Pantella, for lunch.
Leads 2 to Safety
At about 2:15 p.m., smoke was detected and Kaluhiokaleni groped his way up the stairway to the room where his children were sleeping. He led the two eldest down the stairway and carried the youngest.
Firemen, under the direction of Battalion Chief Harold Gick, confined the fire to the bedroom. Gick said it apparently started in the mattress of a bed adjoining the one in which the three children were sleeping.
The two firemen were injured while fighting a blaze that gutted a second-floor bedroom and damaged a gift shop at 1073 Haddon avenue.
3 Companies Fight Blaze
Traffic was detoured off Haddon avenue for more than an hour while firemen from two engine companies and one truck company battled the flames.
The injured firemen were Capt. John Hensen, 40, commander of Truck Co. No. 2, and Ladderman James Creato, 52, of the same company.
Hensen suffered a cut on the back of his left hand that required two stitches at West Jersey hospital. Creato was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a puncture wound of his right foot, suffered when he stepped on a nail.
The injured fire captain, who was sent home after treatment, was caught in a shower of glass when a window exploded from the heat.
The gift shop is operated by Mrs. Etta Kocher, 51. With her husband, Fred, general sales manager for a Philadelphia fruit produce company, she occupies the apartment above.
The two-story brick and frame building was vacant when firemen arrived. They had been summoned by a passerby when clouds of smoke began pouring from the upstairs bedroom window.
According to Battalion Chief Winfield Leviseur, the flames started in one of the bedrooms of the upstairs apartment, scorched the walls of an adjacent bedroom, and were threatening the gift shop below.
One Room Is Total Loss
One bedroom was a total loss, the other sustained water and smoke damage, and the gift shop was damaged by water.
Chief Leviseur said his men were hampered by dense smoke from the blazing mattress. He was unable to estimate damages, but said the cause was “possibly a careless smoker.”
Mrs. Kocher and her son, Sgt. Donald Kocher, 23, were away making a bank deposit at the time of the fire. They returned at the height of the blaze.
Sgt. Kocher, on a 20-day furlough from the Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, said he was on orders to report to Officers’ Candidate School at Fort Sill, Okla.
In addition to Truck Company 2, Engine Companies 8 and 7 responded to the alarm. Truck Company 2 and Engine Company 8 are located at 6th and Kaighn avenues; Engine Company 7 answered the alarm from its headquarters at Mt. Ephraim and Kaighn avenues.
Fire Department Record Card
Fire Department record card for James J. Creato, Badge No. 154, appointed June 1, 1929.