Woman Saved As City Home Burns
Camden Courier-Post —
Rescued by Son-in-Law
An East Camden woman was rescued from her burning home yesterday by her son-in-law, who ran to the house from a luncheonette he operates nearly three blocks away.
Mrs. Sue Longano, 55, who passed out when smoke filled the second floor of the house at 1108 N. 25th St., was carried from a bedroom by Doran Moberg, 41, her son-in-law. Mrs. Longano was revived by firemen.
Battalion Fire Chief Biaggio Ardire said that the fire, which started in a hallway closet and spread up a second-floor bedroom and then broke through the roof, is under investigation.
Moberg, who operates a luncheonette at 24th Street and River Avenue with his wife, Rose Marie, 38, ran to the house after being notified of the fire.
The fire department reported receiving numerous telephone calls and some box alarms concerning the fire, which broke out at about 12:20 p.m.
Ardire said the fire was brought under control by 1:17 p.m. but firemen remained at the scene until 3:30 p.m. because embers in the hallway walls continued to smolder.
Cause of Fire
“It was hard to tell what the cause of the fire was, since the closet has no electricity and was used to store Christmas decorations and clothes,” the chief said.
The closet was also an entrance to the one-half story attic, Ardire explained, and created a good draft for the fire to spread.
Ardire described the blaze as “rich” when firemen arrived, as if oxygen by that time had been taken from the burning building.
Moberg reportedly found his mother-in-law on the steps from the second-to-third floor where she had apparently collapsed when she tried to leave the house.
Air Packs
Ardire said firemen donned air packs to enter the home as there was very intense heat.
The chief said he was forced to call an extra company, with a total of five pieces of equipment and 14 men fighting the blaze.
He said the second floor and attic were extensively damaged by fire, smoke and water while the first floor sustained smoke and water damage.
Ardire said he would return to the scene today to try to determine the cause of the fire, with a hopeful a cause could be named.
FIREMEN work to extinguish blaze in second floor of home at 1108 N. 25th St., Camden, where Mrs. Sue Longano was rescued after passing out in smoke-filled room.