Camden Courier-Post, January 31, 1975View transcription
HEADLINE: Fire Rips E. Camden Home, Leaving 4 Youngsters Dead
By CHARLES JOHNS and JOSEPH R. McCARTHY
Courier-Post Staff
Four East Camden children were killed this morning in a 20-minute house fire that broke out after their mother went next door to make a quick phone call.
A fifth child, the oldest in the family, was not involved because he lives with his grandparents only a few blocks away in Pennsauken. Today is his 12th birthday.
Two of the victims were taken to West Jersey Hospital, Northern Division, Camden. They were identified as Anthony DePasquale, 8, and Jackie Binder, 3. Both were dead on arrival at 2:55 a.m.
The other two children were identified as John Spataro, 10, and Marlene Spataro, 9, by a spokesman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden. John was dead on arrival at 3:04 a.m.; Marlene died in the hospital at 3:40 a.m.
All the victims were the children of Mrs. Geraldine Binder of 433 Garden Ave., according to Thomas R. Daley, investigator for the Camden County Medical Examiner's Office. Mrs. Binder, who worked as a waitress, had lived at the address with her children for the past five years.
"She (Mrs. Binder) was here 10 minutes," said Gary Mason, who was visiting the other half of the Binder family's duplex house, the home of Mrs. Anna Bier.
Mason said Mrs. Binder went to Mrs. Bier's side of the house to call her mother, and that he was the first to smell smoke.
"Mrs. Binder went to the rear of the house, opened her door," Mason said, "and the smoke just poured out."
Mason, of 14 Stewart Ave., Camden, said he and another man at the Bier house, Paul Marioni, of Pennsauken, tried to enter Mrs. Binder's house through the front and rear doors and also a bedroom window but were unsuccessful.
"We had one foot in the front room, but the smoke was too thick," Mason said. The smoke forced Mrs. Bier and her three children to flee from their house.
Firemen found one of Mrs. Binder's children on the floor of the front bedroom, near the door to the hall, Battalion Chief Thomas Blair said.
Smoke and flames were pouring out of the house when firemen arrived after the alarm was sounded at 2:30 a.m., Blair said, and the first floor living room was "totally involved."
The other three children were found in two rear bedrooms, Blair said, each of which contained a double bunk bed. Blair said it appeared all four children died from smoke inhalation since they were found on the floor.
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[CONTINUATION — "4 Children Die in Camden Fire," continued from Page One]
"One kid — Marlene — they got her breathing," the chief said, "but eventually she died."
Blair said the asbestos-sided house was extensively damaged and its furnishings destroyed. A firewall prevented anything more than smoke damage to Mrs. Bier's side of the house.
Firemen extinguished the blaze in 20 minutes, Blair said.
The chief said the fire appeared to have started near the living room couch, and he speculated that the cause was either a defective lamp cord or extension cord.
Mrs. Binder's surviving child, Danny Spataro, is a student at the Burling School in Pennsauken, and lives with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wolfson, on Harris Avenue, where Mrs. Binder was reported to be staying today. The other children, with the exception of 3-year-old Jackie, were students at the McGraw School in Camden.
Autopsies were scheduled to be performed today by Camden County Medical Examiner Louis C. Riegert.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete but are being handled by Edward P. Leonard Jr., 35th Street and River Avenue.
By Charles Johns and Joseph R. McCarthy, Courier-Post Staff
Four East Camden children were killed this morning in a 20-minute house fire that broke out after their mother went next door to make a quick phone call.
A fifth child, the oldest in the family, was not involved because he lives with his grandparents only a few blocks away in Pennsauken. Today is his 12th birthday.
The other two children were identified as John Spataro, 10, and Marlene Spataro, 9, by a spokesman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Camden. John was dead on arrival at 3:04 a.m.; Marlene died in the hospital at 3:40 a.m.
“She (Mrs. Binder) was here 10 minutes,” said Gary Mason, who was visiting the other half of the Binder family’s duplex house, the home of Mrs. Anna Bier.
Mason said Mrs. Binder went to Mrs. Bier’s side of the house to call her mother, and that he was the first to smell smoke.
“Mrs. Binder went to the rear of the house, opened her door,” Mason said, “and the smoke just poured out.”
Mason, of 14 Stewart Ave., Camden, said he and another man at the Bier house, Paul Marioni, of Pennsauken, tried to enter Mrs. Binder’s house through the front and rear doors and also a bedroom window but were unsuccessful.
“We had one foot in the front room, but the smoke was too thick,” Mason said. The smoke forced Mrs. Bier and her three children to flee from their house.
Firemen found one of Mrs. Binder’s children on the floor of the front bedroom, near the door to the hall, Battalion Chief Thomas Blair said.
Smoke and flames were pouring out of the house when firemen arrived after the alarm was sounded at 2:30 a.m., Blair said, and the first floor living room was “totally involved.”
The other three children were found in two rear bedrooms, Blair said, each of which contained a double bunk bed. Blair said it appeared all four children died from smoke inhalation since they were found on the floor.
“One kid — Marlene — they got her breathing,” the chief said, “but eventually she died.”
Blair said the asbestos-sided house was extensively damaged and its furnishings destroyed. A firewall prevented anything more than smoke damage to Mrs. Bier’s side of the house.
Firemen extinguished the blaze in 20 minutes, Blair said.
The chief said the fire appeared to have started near the living room couch, and he speculated that the cause was either a defective lamp cord or extension cord.
Mrs. Binder’s surviving child, Danny Spataro, is a student at the Burling School in Pennsauken, and lives with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wolfson, on Harris Avenue, where Mrs. Binder was reported to be staying today. The other children, with the exception of 3-year-old Jackie, were students at the McGraw School in Camden.
Autopsies were scheduled to be performed today by Camden County Medical Examiner Louis C. Riegert.
