By Claudia Vargas
The Philadelphia Inquirer
CAMDEN, N.J. — As a yellow excavator picked up debris on a grassy field behind what was left of a former paint manufacturing plant, men in hard hats, boots, and T-shirts with law enforcement logos searched for evidence in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood.
Wednesday was deja vu for area fire investigators and Camden residents. The fourth major vacant warehouse fire within a month brought back arson teams and law enforcement personnel from the city, county, and state levels.
“It’s not fun anymore. It’s actually disrespectful,” Camden Fire Chief Michael Harper said of the rash of fires that has taken a toll on his department.
Tuesday evening’s two-alarm blaze was reported about 9:30 at the old Clement Coverall Co. plant at Sixth Street and Carl Miller Boulevard. No injuries were reported.
Investigators from the Newark field office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with the state Arson Unit and fire marshal, are trying to find the cause of the Clement warehouse fire as well as determine whether the four fires are connected, Harper said.
The mechanism used to start these fires is the focus now, Harper said, because that could lead investigators to determine whether the same person or group of people is behind the warehouse fires.
“But we have not gotten there yet,” Harper said.
The first two fires - a 12-alarm blaze June 9 that started in a former tire-distribution center near the city’s Parkside section and an eight-alarm fire June 11 that gutted a former garment factory in the Waterfront South neighborhood - remain under investigation.
The first fire damaged 23 buildings, 10 of them occupied. More than half of the buildings were severely damaged, and 16 families lost their homes.
The third large warehouse fire, June 20 at a former detergent plant in East Camden, was ruled arson after the ATF sent in a specialized team to help Camden officials comb through any possible evidence.
The team spent four days on the scene before confirming that the Concord Chemical Co. fire at 17th and Federal Streets was set. No arrests have been made.
On June 23, firefighters battled a one-alarm fire in a warehouse on Magnolia Avenue in Parkside.
Harper suspects the heightened awareness of the previous warehouse fires led to a quicker alert, allowing firefighters to control this fire faster.
Because such large fires require a lot of manpower and resources to extinguish, assisting suburban fire companies, which are mostly volunteer, have also been affected by the calls. And the summer heat does not help the situation, said Robert Mortka, president of the Camden County Fire Chiefs Association.
“The guys get beat down very easily,” Mortka said.
Fires at vacant buildings can be very dangerous because their structure is usually in such bad shape that walls and roofs can come down easily during a fire, officials said.
The upper floor of the two-story brick building collapsed during Tuesday’s fire. Two firefighters rushed out of the building moments before the collapse, Harper said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection had the Clement building, which closed in 1996, listed in its site-remediation program. It was not clear Wednesday afternoon whether any cleanup had been done.
Starting in 1926, Clement Coverall manufactured solvent- and water-based industrial paints and varnishes, according to the state website. Previous businesses included a hosiery factory (1891-1906) and leather tanning operation (1906-26), the DEP said.
The site is about six blocks from the June 11 fire at Winslow and Fourth Streets.
Though Camden has many vacant warehouses, this cluster of fire calls is rare, Harper said.
“We get them from time to time, but to get them all in such a short amount of time is unusual,” Harper said.
The suburban departments that have been assisting Camden for several years with difficult fires also have noticed the difference with these recent fires.
“There’s a specific problem here,” Mortka said. “These fires aren’t starting by themselves.”
The ATF has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the June 20 East Camden fire.
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