In the past week the sphincter of the country, Camden, New Jersey has had two major fires. The first one was a 12-alarm fire in an abandoned tire company. Today’s fire was an 8-alarm fire that started in an old garment factory. Investigators aren’t saying if the fires were arson but come on, it’s Camden.
For those of you who haven’t been following the story not only is Camden usually ranked as one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country but back in January the city laid off half of the police and fire departments. Mostly because more than half of the properties in the city are non-tax paying properties.
Luckily no firefighters were killed at either fire but that’s not to say the layoffs and the crime made fighting the fires any easier. Copper threads used to hook hoses to fire hydrants were stolen off the fire hydrants probably for scrap metal or to open the hydrants because of the heat. Instead, fire companies had to pump in water from the Cooper River, six blocks away. Some say that it took firefighters twice the time it would have to battle this fire.
Back in March the city I posted that if the city doesn’t get its act together by the summer that the city would start to burn. I’m not prophetic as much as it is a no brainer. Fewer cops plus fewer firemen plus a heatwave equals a burning city.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 