Camden Families Left With Nothing After Devastating Fire
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) - While Camden fire investigators search for the cause of the huge 12-alarm fire yesterday, residents who lost all of their possessions are trying to put their lives back together.
The enormous fire not only gutted the vacant Reliable Tire warehouse on Mt. Ephraim Avenue, it also transformed a dozen houses into nothing more than a smoldering pile of bricks and debris (see previous story).
"I lost everything in there. Everything I had, I lost. I'm lucky I didn't go anywhere, believe me," one woman said while standing in front of her former home of 34 years. "I don't know what I'm going to do, dear. I'm too upset. I was very upset to get into it. I had to walk with the chair down, all around, just with the chair."
Juan Delgado owns a plumbing business two blocks away. He had a feeling the vacant tire factory would be the site of trouble.
"It's been abandoned for over 10 years. It was just an accident waiting to happen."
Seven families lost everything, and the Red Cross is trying to help them cope while fire investigators are looking for exactly what sparked this devastating blaze.
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio
