Elderly Couple Die After Fire Hits Camden Home

By Camden NJ History

October 11, 2007 · Updated October 28, 2026 · 3 min read · News Articles

Camden Courier-Post, October 11, 2007

Firefighters and EMS crew at night at the 1307 Everett Street fire, October 11, 2007 — Camden Courier-Post, October 11, 2007

Camden Courier-Post - October 11, 2007

An elderly couple died after a raging fire struck their two-story home in the 1300 block of Everett Street on Thursday night, a city fire chief said.

The one-alarm blaze was reported by a neighbor at 9:57 p.m. and was not under control until 10:37 p.m., Camden County emergency dispatch said.

By then, 85-year-old Levota Macklin, who jumped out of a second-floor window, was critically hurt with head injuries. She later died at Cooper University Hospital, city Deputy Chief Paul Price said. Her husband, 84-year-old William Macklin, died in the blaze, Price said.

The two were married for 37 years.

Their stepson, 65-year-old Lawrence Thomas, was treated and released from Cooper Hospital for respiratory injuries and burns.

This morning outside the house, Thomas, with tears in his eyes, recounted he was in his bedroom on the second floor last night, with the door closed, watching television, when the TV suddenly went off. He said he opened the door partially but was hit by heat and smoke that were so intense he couldn’t open the door all the way.

He went out onto the roof in the back of the second floor through a bathroom window and hung off the roof, he said.

“I heard him stumbling around in his room,” Thomas said, speaking of his stepfather. “I hollered, ‘Get out, get out, fire, fire.’”

Two neighborhood children helped Thomas get off the roof before firefighters arrived, the retired truck driver said. Flames were shooting out of the side of the house by the time he got to the ground, he said.

The Macklins’ 67-year-old stepson Carl Thomas, also stood outside the house this morning, staring up at the burned out window frames on the second floor of the brick structure, tears in his eyes. The three had lived in the house since 1983.

“My parents were God-fearing people. I don’t know what else to say,” Thomas said. “God doesn’t do any wrong. … Now she’s with God.”

He said his mother could barely walk and used a cane or walker for help. He said he was amazed she got out of the window.

The Macklins’ nephew, 41-year-old Rodney Miles of Camden, also stopped at the house this morning, looking at the property, the only house on a block of tree-filled lots, and shaking his head.

“I’m still numb about it,” Miles said. “I can’t make sense of it, especially those two. It’s crazy for something like this to happen. With everything going on, you think that God would take someone else and not these two.”

Meanwhile, the investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing, the deputy fire chief said.

“There was a lot of fire; the house was very heavily involved when we got there,” Price said this morning.

Lawrence Thomas said the house had smoke alarms but they weren’t hooked up correctly and didn’t sound Thursday night.

By Bill Duhart.

1307 Everett Street fire, October 11, 2007