Fire Pumper Crashes Into Camden Office

Fire Pumper Crashes Into Camden Office A fire engine crashed through the front of an automobile insurance office in Camden on Saturday, cracking the entire brick face of the three-story building and leaving it in danger of collapse. All traffic was halted in the area of Broadway and Pine sts. in fear the rumble of buses and trucks would bring the building down. The fire engine was left inside the bulk glass front of the Basin & Basin Insurance Co. office for nearly three hours until city workers could shore up the building so the vehicle could be removed safely. COLLIDES WITH AUTO The apparatus, a pumper of Engine 1, 4th and Pine sts., was responding to a mattress fire at 434 S. 6th st at 2:30 P. M. when it collided with an automobile. Picture on Page 39 Both vehicles mounted the curb at the southeast corner of the downtown intersection. Mrs. Maria Gruber, 74, of 505 Pine st., who was walking by the building was brushed by the fire engine and knocked to the sidewalk, where she was showered with glass from the smashed window and door. She was admitted to West Jersey Hospital with fractures of the right ankle and lower right leg and cuts of the face and legs. FIREMAN INJURED Fireman Isaac Muns, 36, of 717 State st., driver of the pumper, suffered a fractured right foot and leg cuts and was admitted to Cooper Hospital. Fireman George Dixon, 31, of 1554 Ormand ave., Camden, who was riding on the pumper, was treated at the same hospital for cuts of the right leg and right hand and then released. Two young people in the automobile also were treated for injuries at Cooper Hospital. They were Charles Wilson, 24, of 407 Monmouth st., Gloucester City, N. J., and Janet Mayhew, 17, of 210 Mercer st., also of Glou- Continued on Page 39, Column 1 Fire Pumper Crashes Office Continued from First Page cester city. Both received head cuts and the girl suffered a back injury. Raymond McClintock, 25, of 530 Lester Terrace, Camden, a Camden Public Works Department employe, was treated at the Cooper Hospital for lacerations of the neck and left hand. He was assisting in the placing of shoring to brace the building against collapse after the crash when struck by a piece of glass that fell from one of the shattered windows. CROWD GATHERS Owen Ribble, manager of the insurance office, said he worked there alone Saturday afternoon and left just 15 minutes before the accident occurred. He returned to the scene after police summoned him from his home at 340 Coles ave., Cherry Hill. Police moved back a crowd of several hundred persons who gathered at the intersection. Then they cordoned off Broadway at Spruce and Line sts., a block north and south of Pine, and barricaded Pine st. at 5th and 6th, a block east and west of Broadway. William H. Harker, Camden city director of public works, reached the scene at 4 P. M. and immediately declared the building condemned. The Fire Department's heavy-duty rescue squad built heavy lumber supports against the building and cautiously removed the fire engine at 5:20 P. M.