Joseph James Anderson

JOSEPH JAMES ANDERSON was born on February 14, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to James J. and Catherine Anderson. The family appears to have moved to Camden in the late 1940s or later, as they are not listed in the 1947 Camden City Directory.

Joseph James Anderson attended Camden High School through the 11th grade before leaving to follow other pursuits. He enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17, on August 16, 1956, and reached the rank of Seaman prior to his honorable discharge from his nation’s service.

After his service was completed, Joseph J. Anderson returned to Camden. He was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on June 29, 1962 and was promoted to Captain on July 12, 1968. He served as a Battalion Chief from July 29, 1981 through June 18, 1984. Captain Anderson retired from the Fire Department on April 1, 1989, having served the City of Camden for over 26 years, during which time he was awarded the department’s Medal of Valor.

Joseph James Anderson passed away on December 22, 1996. He is buried at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, New Jersey.

9 Firemen Graduate In City Test

Camden Courier-Post — July 25, 1962

Graduation exercises for nine of the city’s newest firemen were held Tuesday in headquarters at 3rd and Arch Streets under direction of Public Safety Director Bedell and Fire Chief Edward R. MacDowell.

The graduates and their assignments are Joseph Anderson, Canterbury Apartments, No. 1 Ladder; Prescott Johnson, 1238 Kenwood Avenue, No. 8 Engine; Philip Maycott, 1023 North 32nd Street, No. 9 Engine; George Getty, Canterbury Apartments, No. 2 Engine; Ronald Bowers, 617 Clinton Street, No. 2 Ladder; William Young, 3167 Westfield Avenue, No. 2 Engine Company; Wayne Kraft, 1052 N. 35th Street, No. 3 Ladder; Raymond Eldridge, 7 North Dudley Street, No. 7 Engine; and Donald Goehringer, 30 North 24th Street, No. 7 Engine Company.

They will receive a starting salary of $4,800. Chief MacDowell said this brings the department to 170 hosemen and to 224 total personnel in the department.

All nine were graduated after receiving three weeks of training at the fire school under the direction of Captain Leo J. Tompkins.

Their training also included two days at the Navy Fire School at the Philadelphia Naval Base.

Rehearsal for Disaster

Camden Courier-Post — 1965

Camden Fire Department rescue drill at West Jersey Hospital, 1965 — firemen descend ladders and lower stokes baskets from fifth floor — Fire Rescue Drill Held at W. Jersey Hospital

By Mary Archibald, Courier-Post Staff

A demonstration of rescue procedures was given yesterday by the Camden City Fire Department and the hospital for representatives of 14 hospitals in the Greater Philadelphia-Camden area.

All known rescue methods were used to remove theoretically trapped student nurses and hospital personnel from fifth floor windows and rooftops. The drill was climaxed by a two story leap into a net by two firemen.

Several student nurses, assisted by firemen, descended extension ladders first from upper-story windows. This procedure was followed by the lowering of bandaged nurses, masquerading as patients, from the fifth floor in stokes baskets. The stokes basket is a specially shaped wire basket which conforms to the shape of the human body and in which a patient may be strapped safely.

Calm Performance

Although most of the mock patients were unruffled and a few volunteered for a repeat performance, oxygen, though unnecessary, was administered. The girls were lifted then onto stretchers and transported to the street curb by able and willing firemen. As evacuees reached the ground, a group of nurses, headed by Mrs. Jane Born, director of nursing services and education, was put in action.

Exceptional bravery was displayed by several girls in shorts and shirts who slid down stout ropes from fifth floor windows.

Among the hospital personnel who were rescued were two head nurses, Doris Davis and Jacqueline Stauffer. Student nurses participating were Irma Coney, Jean Knepner, Judy Peters, Sue Organt, Judy Bowers, Millie James, Kathi Mullen, Lois Weintraub, Arleen McCormack, Sally Bashaw, Barbara Eddis and Faith Isbell.

Acrobatic Fireman

Showing acrobatic skill was a fireman, William Hopkins, who swung from a rope attached to a fire truck extension ladder. Jumping two stories into a net were firemen Jay Anderson and Jay Getty, who landed in the proper rump-down position according to the fire department’s fire master, Otto Kaiser.

Chief Edward Michalak said he thought the drill was successful.

Emergency Drill

“The drills are a part of our pre-planning program for emergencies and we will be having a second demonstration drill Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Walt Whitman Hotel. We are doing these training all the time at hospitals, hotels and factories as part of a year-round program,” the chief added.

The drill was coordinated by W. J. Gribble, hospital engineer. District Fire Chief Theodore Primas was in charge of firemen and apparatus. Observers were representatives from All Saints, Burlington, Cooper, Delaware Valley, Jeanes, Lower Bucks, Nazareth, Northeastern, Sacred Heart, St. Christopher, St. Mary’s, Stetson, Underwood and Friends Hospitals.

Camden Fire Department rescue drill at West Jersey Hospital, 1965 — firemen and student nurses — Fire Rescue Drill Held at W. Jersey Hospital

By Mary Archibald, Courier-Post Staff

A demonstration of rescue procedures was given yesterday by the Camden City Fire Department and the hospital for representatives of 14 hospitals in the Greater Philadelphia-Camden area.

All known rescue methods were used to remove theoretically trapped student nurses and hospital personnel from fifth floor windows and rooftops. The drill was climaxed by a two story leap into a net by two firemen.

Several student nurses, assisted by firemen, descended extension ladders first from upper-story windows. This procedure was followed by the lowering of bandaged nurses, masquerading as patients, from the fifth floor in stokes baskets. The stokes basket is a specially shaped wire basket which conforms to the shape of the human body and in which a patient may be strapped safely.

Calm Performance

Although most of the mock patients were unruffled and a few volunteered for a repeat performance, oxygen, though unnecessary, was administered. The girls were lifted then onto stretchers and transported to the street curb by able and willing firemen. As evacuees reached the ground, a group of nurses, headed by Mrs. Jane Born, director of nursing services and education, was put in action.

Exceptional bravery was displayed by several girls in shorts and shirts who slid down stout ropes from fifth floor windows.

Among the hospital personnel who were rescued were two head nurses, Doris Davis and Jacqueline Stauffer. Student nurses participating were Irma Coney, Jean Knepner, Judy Peters, Sue Organt, Judy Bowers, Millie James, Kathi Mullen, Lois Weintraub, Arleen McCormack, Sally Bashaw, Barbara Eddis and Faith Isbell.

Acrobatic Fireman

Showing acrobatic skill was a fireman, William Hopkins, who swung from a rope attached to a fire truck extension ladder. Jumping two stories into a net were firemen Jay Anderson and Jay Getty, who landed in the proper rump-down position according to the fire department’s fire master, Otto Kaiser.

Chief Edward Michalak said he thought the drill was successful.

Emergency Drill

“The drills are a part of our pre-planning program for emergencies and we will be having a second demonstration drill Oct. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Walt Whitman Hotel. We are doing these training all the time at hospitals, hotels and factories as part of a year-round program,” the chief added.

The drill was coordinated by W. J. Gribble, hospital engineer. District Fire Chief Theodore Primas was in charge of firemen and apparatus. Observers were representatives from All Saints, Burlington, Cooper, Delaware Valley, Jeanes, Lower Bucks, Nazareth, Northeastern, Sacred Heart, St. Christopher, St. Mary’s, Stetson, Underwood and Friends Hospitals.

Police, Fire Tests Take Heavy Toll

Camden Courier-Post — June 28, 1968

Fatal Fire Truck Crash Blamed on Sirens

Camden Courier-Post — August 18, 1975

Crash scene at 6th and Pine Street, Camden, August 16, 1975 — fire truck into grocery store — By Tony Davis, Courier-Post Staff

A Camden fire official said he believes Saturday’s collision of two fire trucks that killed one person and injured 14 others was caused by the inability of the drivers to hear each other’s vehicle over their own sirens.

However, Acting First Battalion Chief Joseph Anderson stressed that he was only “theorizing” and that a full investigation of the crash would begin today. The two trucks, Engines One and Eight, collided at 6th and Pine Streets at about 5:15 pm, Saturday, Anderson said.

The impact of the crash sent Engine Eight, which was heading north on 6th Street, into the Livecchi grocery store while Engine One, which was heading east on Pine Street, stopped safely about one block north on 6th Street, Anderson said.

The two vehicles were en route to the scene of a minor fire in a vacant house about two blocks from the scene of the collision. Anderson said another truck was called to extinguish the blaze.

Dead was 65-year-old Wilkins Tisdale, of 583 Line Street, Camden, according to Blair M. Murphy, an investigator for the Camden County Medical Examiner’s office. Murphy said the causes of death were internal injuries and a severed arm.

Tisdale, a retired construction worker who had just walked out of the grocery store, was pinned for 90 minutes under a large freezer in the store, Anderson said.

Juanita Dorsey, 34, 704 Pine Street Camden, who had been standing inside the store, was pinned under the freezer when it was hit by the truck, Anderson said. The woman was listed in satisfactory condition in Cooper Hospital with back injuries.

Richard Sorenson, a hoseman for Engine Eight, was in critical condition at Cooper with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a broken nose, right shoulder and right arm.

Paul Delfing, driver of Engine One, and James Peterson, driver of Engine Eight, were both pinned inside the cabs of their vehicles for 20 minutes, and later treated and released from Cooper for head and facial injuries, Anderson said.

Sorenson and five other firemen on the two trucks were all thrown from them by the crash. The other firemen injured were Joseph Chelhowski, captain of Engine Eight, who was in satisfactory condition in West Jersey Hospital, Northern Division with ankle injuries and bruises.

Albert Collum, captain of Engine One, who was in stable condition at Cooper with a concussion, a broken finger, contusions and bruises.

William Smith, a hoseman for Engine Eight, who was being held for observation at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital with head and facial cuts and bruises.

John Asher, a hoseman for Engine One, and Paul Capazola, a hoseman for Engine Eight, who were treated and released from Cooper for cuts and bruises.

Five other persons were injured, none seriously, in the crash. One, Leonard Medford, of 611 Line Street, Camden, was in satisfactory condition at Cooper Hospital with leg injuries. The others were all treated and released from Cooper and Lourdes hospitals.

Anderson said the diesel engines of the two trucks both received “extensive” damage and that he did not know if the eight-year-old trucks, which he said usually last 15 years, could be used again.

Chief Edward V. Michalak said the department has pressed two of its older, auxiliary pumpers into service to keep the city’s nine engine companies and three ladder companies at full strength.

Michalak said, however, that the two trucks damaged were among the newest the City owned.

Although he would put no dollar estimate on the damages, he said they were “excessive” and that it would not be known until at least Tuesday whether they could be repaired.

The city will not be receiving any new fire trucks until next April, when delivery of four pumpers is expected.

Although the city has experienced fire truck mishaps before, the chief, a 33-year veteran of the force, said this was the most serious.

He would not comment on the cause of the accident pending completion of the department’s investigation.

Spectators at crash scene — Camden fire truck that crashed into corner grocery at 6th and Pine Street — By Tony Davis, Courier-Post Staff

A Camden fire official said he believes Saturday’s collision of two fire trucks that killed one person and injured 14 others was caused by the inability of the drivers to hear each other’s vehicle over their own sirens.

However, Acting First Battalion Chief Joseph Anderson stressed that he was only “theorizing” and that a full investigation of the crash would begin today. The two trucks, Engines One and Eight, collided at 6th and Pine Streets at about 5:15 pm, Saturday, Anderson said.

The impact of the crash sent Engine Eight, which was heading north on 6th Street, into the Livecchi grocery store while Engine One, which was heading east on Pine Street, stopped safely about one block north on 6th Street, Anderson said.

The two vehicles were en route to the scene of a minor fire in a vacant house about two blocks from the scene of the collision. Anderson said another truck was called to extinguish the blaze.

Dead was 65-year-old Wilkins Tisdale, of 583 Line Street, Camden, according to Blair M. Murphy, an investigator for the Camden County Medical Examiner’s office. Murphy said the causes of death were internal injuries and a severed arm.

Tisdale, a retired construction worker who had just walked out of the grocery store, was pinned for 90 minutes under a large freezer in the store, Anderson said.

Juanita Dorsey, 34, 704 Pine Street Camden, who had been standing inside the store, was pinned under the freezer when it was hit by the truck, Anderson said. The woman was listed in satisfactory condition in Cooper Hospital with back injuries.

Richard Sorenson, a hoseman for Engine Eight, was in critical condition at Cooper with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a broken nose, right shoulder and right arm.

Paul Delfing, driver of Engine One, and James Peterson, driver of Engine Eight, were both pinned inside the cabs of their vehicles for 20 minutes, and later treated and released from Cooper for head and facial injuries, Anderson said.

Sorenson and five other firemen on the two trucks were all thrown from them by the crash. The other firemen injured were Joseph Chelhowski, captain of Engine Eight, who was in satisfactory condition in West Jersey Hospital, Northern Division with ankle injuries and bruises.

Albert Collum, captain of Engine One, who was in stable condition at Cooper with a concussion, a broken finger, contusions and bruises.

William Smith, a hoseman for Engine Eight, who was being held for observation at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital with head and facial cuts and bruises.

John Asher, a hoseman for Engine One, and Paul Capazola, a hoseman for Engine Eight, who were treated and released from Cooper for cuts and bruises.

Five other persons were injured, none seriously, in the crash. One, Leonard Medford, of 611 Line Street, Camden, was in satisfactory condition at Cooper Hospital with leg injuries. The others were all treated and released from Cooper and Lourdes hospitals.

Anderson said the diesel engines of the two trucks both received “extensive” damage and that he did not know if the eight-year-old trucks, which he said usually last 15 years, could be used again.

Chief Edward V. Michalak said the department has pressed two of its older, auxiliary pumpers into service to keep the city’s nine engine companies and three ladder companies at full strength.

Michalak said, however, that the two trucks damaged were among the newest the City owned.

Although he would put no dollar estimate on the damages, he said they were “excessive” and that it would not be known until at least Tuesday whether they could be repaired.

The city will not be receiving any new fire trucks until next April, when delivery of four pumpers is expected.

Although the city has experienced fire truck mishaps before, the chief, a 33-year veteran of the force, said this was the most serious.

He would not comment on the cause of the accident pending completion of the department’s investigation.

Council Checking Into Crash

Camden Courier-Post — August 22, 1975

By Rich Bergeman, Courier-Post Staff

The brakes on one Camden fire engine will be examined by a specialist to see whether brake failure was responsible for Saturday’s collision of two fire trucks in which one man was killed and 14 persons injured.

However, Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Jiannetto, appearing before Camden City Council Thursday, said he felt the possibility of brake failure was remote because Engine No. 8 is safeguarded by a complex triple-brake system.

Jiannetto said James Peterson, the driver for Engine Co. No. 8, reported he believed the brakes on his vehicle failed to function when he saw Engine Co. No. 1 emerge from a cross-street.

The collision occurred at 6th and Pine Streets as both fire companies were responding to a house fire about two blocks north of the accident scene. The crash sent Engine No. 8 through the wall of Livecchi’s Grocery at 601 Pine Street, killing Wilkins Tisdale, 65, a shopper emerging from the store at the time.

Engine No. 8 was traveling north on 6th, which is a through street, while Engine No. 1 was headed east on Pine for 7th Street, where the driver planned to turn north to the fire scene.

Both captains reported their vehicles were traveling at a relatively slow rate of speed, and that buildings at the corners of 6th and Pine obscured their view.

There was also speculation that the drivers were unable to hear each other approach because of the noise from their own sirens.

So far, fire and police department investigators have not yet fixed blame on either driver, according to Public Safety Director David Kelly.

Jiannetto said representatives from Ward Lafrance Co., manufacturers of the two eight-year-old vehicles, have told them Engine No. 1 was demolished, but Engine No. 8 may be repairable.

Martin McKernan, city attorney, said the city carries $250 deductible collision insurance on both vehicles, and said the city is also covered by liability insurance concerning the injuries and damages caused to those outside the department.

Still hospitalized are:

Juanita Dorsey, 34, of 704 Pine Street, listed in fair condition at Cooper Hospital with back injuries.

Leonard Medford, of 611 Line Street, listed in fair condition at Cooper with leg injuries.

Richard Sorenson, a hoseman for Co. No. 8, listed in serious condition at Cooper with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a broken nose, shoulder and arm.

William Smith, also a hoseman for Co. No. 8, listed in satisfactory condition at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital with head and facial cuts.

Important Note!

Joseph James Anderson