City Fire Leaves 10 Homeless

By Louis T. Lounsberry / Courier-Post Staff CAMDEN — At least 10 people were left homeless Tuesday when a three-alarm fire blazed through a three-story duplex home and the home of an adjoining Cramer Hill section of the city. The cause of the blaze was under investigation Tuesday and authorities were looking into the possibility that all of the tenants at the facility, at 911 N. 24th St., are being operated as an illegal boarding home. The fire was reported at noon and was fought by about 50 city firefighters for almost 90 minutes before being declared under control. There were no reports of injuries. Camden Chief Fire Marshal Herbert C. Leary said the blaze started and erupted in a second floor room at 911 N. 24th St. near Marlton Avenue, and that it quickly spread into the ceiling, the third floor and the first floor. The fire then spread across the roof and to the adjoining home at 909 and down into the third floor of that home, Leary said. He said the home at 911 was heavily damaged by the blaze, smoke and water and that the first and second floors of the other home were damaged by fire, smoke and water. He said that four people living at 909 and at least six living at 911 were left homeless by the blaze. He said arrangements were being made through the American Red Cross to find temporary housing for the victims. Claudius Bey, who lived at the 911 North 24th Street with his children, said they would be staying with other family members in the Camden area until his home is repaired. "There was nobody at home when the fire erupted. I've lived here 12 years. The kids were in school and my wife was out shopping. She doesn't even know about the fire yet. I was at work and a neighbor called me and told me about it. I haven't yet been allowed into my own home to see what was destroyed. I'm a contractor, and just by looking at damage I can see from the outside I know it is going to be extensive," Bey said. Next door, Luis Arocho said he and his girlfriend were asleep and were awoke to the smell of smoke. "We just threw on some clothes and fled. We were in our room on the second floor and all we have left is what's on our backs. There's nothing left to the inside of the house," he said. Arocho said that there were 10 boarders in the home and that about half of them were in the building when the fire erupted. He said all of them got out. Police said they took four people from the scene to police headquarters for questioning, but that no charges have been filed pending the outcome of an investigation by the city fire marshal's office. The blaze forced authorities to close River Road to traffic in the vicinity of 24th Street so that firefighters could lay hose to the fire scene about a half-mile away. Police reopened to traffic at about 3 p.m. Duplex fire: Firefighters battle a three-alarm fire at a duplex in the Cramer Hill section of Camden on Tuesday as a resident of the home watches the blaze. Ladder Company 3 & Ladder Company 1 in operation. Anthony D. Moffa in foreground.