Aerial & ground view from deadly Camden, NJ factory fire 74-years-ago
Read detailed account of 1940 conflagration in Camden
This is another one of those old films posted to YouTube by CriticalPast. It’s from a deadly July 30, 1940 fire in a Camden, New Jersey factory. The fire and multiple explosions occurred at the R. M. Hollingshead Corporation. Among the 10 people who died in the fire was Firefighter William J. Merrigan of Engine 3 who suffered a heart attack.
A fire following a series of explosions in the R. M. Hollingshead Corporation plant at Camden, N. J., on July 30, 1940, quickly assumed conflagration proportions due to ignition of large quantities of flammable liquids used in the manufacture of such items as auto grease, oil, anti-freeze, metal polish, wax, auto-top dressing, tire coating, brake fluid, paint remover, soap, antiseptics, and insecticides. Ten persons lost their lives as a result of the explosions and resulting fire and more than one hundred others are reported to have received treatment for injuries. In addition to destroying a block of factory buildings, the blaze spread to near-by rows of dwellings, leaving sixty families homeless. The total loss was estimated at close to $2,000,000.
Outstanding lessons of the fire are the importance of locating processes involving flammable liquids in properly protected and detached fire-resistive buildings, the importance of proper zoning to segregate manufacturing and residential areas, and the fact that no public fire department can be expected to overcome the inherent hazards found in such large conflagration breeding occupancies once private protection fails or is inadequate.
