Thomas F. Broccoli
Thomas F. Broccoli
THOMAS F. BROCCOLI was born on May 21, 1943 to Anthony Broccoli and his wife, the former Catherine Dorothy Cole. Anthony Broccoli and family was living at 211 Stevens Street when the Census was taken in 1940, he had lived on that block with his mother and sisters since the 1920s. By the time Thomas Broccoli was four years of age, the family had moved to 406 South 3rd Street in Camden, New Jersey in the late 1940s. In February of 1948, Anthony and Catherine Broccoli bought the home at 1467 Pershing Street from May Albert for $3250. The family was still at that address into the mid 1970s.
Both Thomas Broccoli and his older brother Joseph served with the Camden Fire Department. Thomas Broccoli was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on March 16, 1966. Brother Joseph was appointed in 1968. Thomas Broccoli served with Engine Company 2 in the early 1970s. On February 1, 1986 he was promoted to Fire Prevention Specialist and was assigned to the Fire Marshall’s office. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on February 10, 1989, and served with Engine Company 1 until his retirement on October 1, 1996.
Thomas F. Broccoli passed away at the age of 75 on October 16, 2018.
On August 27, 2001 Thomas Broccoli’s son Christopher was appointed to the Camden Fire Department. As of October of 2018 Christopher Broccoli was serving as a Captain at Engine Company 10.
Photos
Thomas F. Broccoli
Hospital Cases
Camden Courier-Post —
COOPER
Robert Saunders, 17, of 313 West street, cut finger.
James Waessner, 12, of 21 Marlton pike, cut head.
Harry Leff, 11, of 1410 Park boulevard, cut scalp.
Jane V. Hallahan, 51, of 424 Dudley street, cut finger.
Mary Hooker, 21, of 202 State street, cut finger.
Joseph F. Cipriani, 30, of 408 Beideman avenue, cut hand.
Raymond Goller, 19, of 525 Beideman avenue, cut hand.
Earl Chapman, 12, of 218 Taylor avenue, dog bite of leg.
Thomas Broccoli, 4, of 406 South Third street, dog bite of thigh.
Robert Harly, 28, of 538 Penn street, contusion of hand.
9 Added To Police, Fire Units
Camden Courier-Post —
Six new policemen and three firemen were added to the city forces yesterday in appointments made by Keith Kauffman, director of public safety.
The new patrolmen are Robert F. Whalen, 25, of 2957 Hartford Road; Edward F. Eldred, 22, of 1014 Kenwood Avenue; Robert D. Bergman, 22, of 3148 Waldorf Avenue; Timothy J. McCarthy, 24, of 113 State Street; Henry W. Sanders, 23, of 535 Pfeiffer Avenue; and Frank Howard Jr., 23, of 1848 Mt. Ephraim Avenue.
The firemen are Daniel M. Gallucci, 26, of 1855 S. 4th Street; Thomas F. Broccoli, 22, of 1467 Pershing Street; and William G. O’Dennis, 22, of 436 Pfeiffer Street.
3 Camden Homes Damaged by Fire
Camden Courier-Post —
Fire early today extensively damaged three row homes at 432, 434 and 436 Berkley St., South Camden.
Battalion Fire Chief Thomas McCabe reported that Raymond Moore, a resident of 434 Berkley St., was aroused by smoke and fled his house. The other two homes were vacant, the chief said.
He said the fire started in a pile of trash at the rear of one of the vacant homes and spread to the rear and upper stories of the other two homes.
Fireman Thomas Broccoli, 27, of No. 2 engine company, was treated at Cooper Hospital, Camden, for smoke inhalation.
Grandmother saves child after smoke halts parents
Camden Courier-Post —
CAMDEN — Parents of a 2-year-old girl trapped in a burning bedroom yesterday were overcome by smoke when they tried to rescue her, but the girl’s grandmother crawled under smoke to pull the child from flames.
The girl, Natasha Amy Lugo of 625 Vine St., was transferred from Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, where she was being treated for second-degree burns over 20 percent of her body. She was in serious condition.
Her mother, Crespo Gracilla Munez, 27, who suffered 2 percent burns on her left hand and smoke inhalation, was transferred from Cooper to the burn center of the St. Agnes Medical Center in Philadelphia.
Her father, Carmen, 26, was transferred from Cooper to the intensive-care unit of St. Agnes Medical Center.
Both were listed in critical condition.
The girl’s grandmother was not injured in the 11:50 a.m. blaze, a city fire investigator said.
Munez’s two other daughters, Carmen, 5, and Gracie, 4, were in the room where the fire started, but escaped injury.
All three children were in a third-floor bedroom, said Thomas F. Broccoli, the city fire investigator. When the fire started, the two older children ran from the house. Consuelo Lugo, Natasha’s grandmother, saw the smoke from her house down the block. She ran to her son’s house to save her granddaughter, witnesses told the investigator. The girl’s parents, who were in a garage behind the house when the fire started, also tried to save the girl, but were forced out by smoke.
City firefighters had the fire under control by 12:10 p.m. The third floor of the row house was extensively damaged by the fire, Broccoli said.
He said the cause of the fire was not suspicious and that the children would be interviewed when they got over the trauma of the fire.
The arson unit of the Camden County prosecutor’s office is assisting Broccoli with the investigation.
3 injured in blaze
A Camden girl and her parents were injured in a fire in a house on Vine Street in Camden yesterday. The girl, Natasha Amy Lugo, was rescued from the house by her grandmother and was listed in serious condition in a Philadelphia hospital last night.
Girl, 3, dies in fire; 2 brothers rescued
Camden Courier-Post —
CAMDEN — A 3-year-old girl died after she and two brothers fled into a bathroom and turned on the faucets to escape from a fire in their home yesterday.
The children, the oldest of whom was 6, were alone in the house and started the fire with a lighter in a bedroom, fire investigators said.
The girl, Catherine L. Hoffman, was pronounced dead shortly after the 3:40 p.m. fire in her home in the 1900 block of Fillmore Street.
Her brothers, Charles S. Williams, 6, and William E. Hoffman Jr., 1, were rescued and hospitalized.
Also hospitalized was the children’s mother, Rosetta D. Hoffman, 22, who was being treated for smoke inhalation and burns she sustained when she tried to the rescue [sic] her eldest and youngest children.
The mother fell unconscious on her way out of the house, but was pulled to safety by two neighbors, a city fire investigator said.
Hoffman was in guarded condition at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, Camden, this morning.
William Hoffman was admitted to the same hospital and was listed in stable condition. His brother, Charles, was transferred early this morning to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, were he was listed in critical condition.
It was uncertain where Hoffman was when the blaze broke out, according to Thomas Broccoli, a city fire investigator.
No charges were filed against Hoffman, but an investigation is under way, said George Kerns, a spokesman for Camden County Prosecutor Samuel Asbell.
The children were left alone in the house, witnesses told Broccoli. He later determined the fire was set in a second-story bedroom by the children with a lighter.
Elaine Mitchell, Hoffman’s neighbor, said she learned of the fire from a neighborhood girl who smelled smoke, and soon after Hoffman jumped a railing in front of her house screaming, “My children are upstairs, locked in the bathroom, and the house is on fire.”
Mitchell called the fire department and her husband, Lawrence, 44, said he ran next door and entered the house with a neighbor, but was turned back by intense heat and heavy smoke.
Mr. Mitchell said he wrapped a wet towel around his body and again entered the house, alone, unaware that Hoffman ran inside ahead of him. He said he caught her as she fell unconscious at the top of the second-story stairwell. Mr. Mitchell, a newspaper deliveryman for USA Today, said he dragged the woman, her 6-year-old son, and youngest child out of the house.
By that time, the fire department arrived and Firefighter George Reese entered the house. Moments later, he carried out the 3-year-old girl, Broccoli said.
The fire quickly ignited a mattress and spread to three others in the bedroom. Broccoli said he was uncertain why the children didn’t try to get out of the house instead of running into the bathroom and turning on water in the bathtub and sink.
2 homes destroyed in city fire
Camden Courier-Post —
CAMDEN — A suspicious fire destroyed two vacant houses at 114 and 116 34th Street in East Camden yesterday afternoon.
The fire prompted an investigation by Thomas Broccoli, assistant city fire marshal.
Another assistant fire marshal, Richard E. Johnson, said the two-alarm fire began at about 12:45 p.m. in frame buildings that are part of an abandoned housing complex known as Roles Court.
He said it has been the scene of several arsons.
Typically, Johnson said, the fires are caused by vandals tinkering with electrical equipment in the vacant frame buildings.
Johnson said there were no injuries reported.
The property damage estimate had not yet been determined.
Man arrested in house fire
Camden Courier-Post —
Feud with girlfriend led to arson, police say
CAMDEN — Police say a man set his house on fire Tuesday night after his live-in girlfriend refused to give him $300 in Christmas shopping money.
According to police, Jose Ramon Solar, 38, of 2717 Harrison Ave., started the fire after arguing with Mariam Garcia, 25, and threatening to “burn the house down” two times. The house belongs to Garcia’s mother, 50-year-old Adabelta Solar, of the 2800 block of Harrison Avenue, who is married to the suspect’s father, Vincent Solar, they said.
The home was rendered uninhabitable after combustible material was ignited in a basement storage bin, authorities said.
City fire investigator Thomas Broccoli said flames broke through the living room floor and caused extensive smoke damage before it was contained by city firefighters.
Detective Edward Hoffman, who made the arrest with Patrolman Pierre Robinson, said the suspect was found at the scene of the 8:20 p.m. fire, watching firefighters battle the flames.
Broccoli said Mariam Garcia, who is pregnant, was treated at a local hospital for a nervous reaction to the incident. She is reported to be staying with her mother.
According to Hoffman:
The suspect returned home from work Tuesday in a drunken state. He demanded that his girlfriend return $300 he had given her for Christmas gifts.
When Garcia refused, the suspect threatened to burn down the house. After taking a shower upstairs, he came downstairs and began to “act crazy” while demanding the money.
Garcia walked to her nearby mother’s house, with Solar following her. In front of the mother’s house, he again threatened to burn down the house. He demanded the house keys, which Garcia gave to him.
Garcia said she saw him walk back down the street and enter their house.
A few minutes later, a woman who lives next door to the fire-damaged house, Neomi Mendez, ran to the mother’s house, screaming, “The house is on fire.”
Solar was charged Tuesday with arson and yesterday with making terroristic threats. He was being held in Camden County Jail without bail last night.
Hoffman said he also was wanted in Newark for a probation violation.
Obituary
Camden Courier-Post —
Collingswood — Thomas F. Broccoli passed away October 16, 2018, age 75, surrounded by his loving family. He leaves behind beloved wife, Sharon Broccoli (nee D’Amico), children, Kimberly (Joseph) Acchione, Dino (Grace), Brian (Stephanie), Thomas (Sharon) and Christopher, grandchildren: Anthony, Allessia (James), Brianna, Massimo, Sophia, Nathan and Nicolas and one great-grand child, Lorenzo. He will also be dearly missed by his brother Joseph (Karen) and three family cats.
Thomas dedicated 32 years of his career starting as a firefighter for the City of Camden and eventually working his way up to Fire Marshall, then Captain. He was an adoring husband to his wife of over 50 years, Sharon; a shining inspiration of enduring love and faith. Thomas’ greatest joy was spending time with his family. He was a loving and involved father and grandfather. In spare time, Thomas liked to work around the house, play chess, bowl, catch a Philly Flyers game, and his favorite: golf. He was known for making outstanding meatballs and for being the ultimate grill master. Thomas loved music and had an unmatched affinity for classic Doo-Wop. He will be sadly missed by all who loved him and were impacted by him.
Family and friends are invited to the Viewing Saturday October 20, 2018, 9:30–11:30AM with a Prayer Service 11:30AM located in BLAKE-DOYLE Funeral Home, 226 W Collings Ave, Collingswood, NJ. Entombment to follow in Locustwood Cemetery, Cherry Hill, NJ. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Alley Cat Allies located at www.alleycat.org. Please leave your remembrances of Thomas on BLAKE-DOYLE.com.