Incident# 40: Structure Fire - Universal Supply Lumber Co. Hammonton
It was one of the largest fires in Atlantic County since the Wheaton Fire in Mays Landing. Universal Supply Lumber and Kitchen division caught fire shortly after 11:30pm on Firday May 30th. The Elwood Fire Company was called at 11:57pm. On arrival Engine-16-3 was put into service as well as Tanker-16-5. The fire was though the roof on arrival. Fire companies were called from all over Atlantic county as well as Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Cumberland counties. The tanker task force was called in bringing tankers from all over South Jersey. Tanker 16-5 made 15 shuttle loads of water though out the night. Elwood firefighters stayed on location untill 11:30am the following morning helping with overhaul and clean up. 
Chief Anthony Tomasco would like to thank all those Elwood firefighters who came out and worked though the night for over 12hrs to fight this fire.
Hammonton's Chief, Mike Ruberton, also expresses appreciation to the Elwood Fire Company for their hard work and long hours.
Click here for more Photos
EVFC Members can log-in and hear the whole call recording
EVFC Members can Log-in and check out the Helmet cam video in *Members Only Videos*
Hammonton Fire Department's website
Click "read more" for news paper articles.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fire Destroys Hammonton Business Site
By ERIC SCOTT CAMPBELL Staff Writer, 609-272-7227
From The Atlantic City Press Published: Monday, June 02, 2008
HAMMONTON - Signature Millwork had a big load of custom cabinets ready to ship Friday. Wait until Monday, the customer said. It'll be a few more Mondays before those cabinets come in. The town's biggest fire in 25 years, fire officials said, devoured the originals early Saturday morning.
The four-acre property at South Egg Harbor Road and the White Horse Pike was full of wood - building supplier Universal Supply Co. was the other tenant - and the fire blossomed.
Two hundred firefighters engaged the blaze at 11:30 p.m. Friday and controlled it four hours later. Hot spots Saturday night and Sunday morning required brief attention, too. No one was injured, and the fire was contained to the property. Fire officials said only a White Horse Pike restaurant fire 10 years ago compares with the scope of what happened this weekend.
While authorities investigate what started the fire, the two businesses will try to recover. Universal Supply lost some merchandise amid the heavy construction season - "It couldn't have been in February?" market manager Joe Schoen said with a half-smile - but the 200-person company has several other locations in southern New Jersey, including another supply site a quarter-mile away. The fifteen people who worked at the destroyed site will be dispersed to other offices immediately, Schoen said.
As for the 20 employees of Signature Millwork, "I guess they're going to have to go collect (unemployment benefits) until we start calling people back," co-owner Thomas Moffa said. The smaller, 12-year-old company lost everything, and Moffa said he has begun canvassing southern New Jersey for another site. He hopes to be back up to speed in a month. "We're in the middle of some big contracts for hotels and casinos in Atlantic City," Moffa said. "We get stuff out every third day."
Firefighters retrieved some of Universal Supply's merchandise to stop it from fueling the fire, and Schoen said he plans to buy a Press of Atlantic City advertisement to thank the volunteer department, which had help from peers in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties and other government agencies. On-site hydrants couldn't produce enough water to douse the fire, and pumper trucks shuttled between the site and hydrants elsewhere.
"By the time the sun came up, everyone was exhausted," Fire Chief Michael Ruberton said. The property is owned by Texas-based United Realty. Its most recent tax assessment, including improvements, was $637,800. A burnt odor hung heavy there Sunday afternoon, detectable from across the parking lot.
To e-mail Eric Scott Campbell at The Press:
ECampbell@pressofac.com
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fire Destroys Universal Supply Showroom
From The Hammonton News On-Line Originally published May 31, 2008
By BEN MERITT Staff Writer
The Universal Supply Showroom lies in ashes Saturday following Friday night's blaze.
A late Friday night fire destroyed the Universal Supply Showroom and Warehouse located at 861 S. White Horse Pike here in Hammonton.
The fire was reported around 11:45 p.m. When firefighters arrived a short time later, flames were already shooting through the building’s roof.
The Hammonton Volunteer Fire Department called for additional apparatus to battle the blaze. Fire companies from South Egg Harbor, Germania, Collings Lakes and Elwood were among those many area companies to respond.
The fire was brought under control at 3:45 a.m. Saturday, Hammonton Fire Department spokesman John Lyons said Saturday afternoon. A portion of the White Horse Pike was closed for about four hours while firefighters battled the blaze. It was reopened aat bout 4 a.m. A portion of Egg Harbor Road remained closed through Saturday afternoon as fire crews were busy removing charred vehicle from the scene and spraying water on the still smoldering remains of the building and its contents.
No one was inside the building, which was used to display Universal’s building products such as windows, at the time of the blaze.
No firefighters were injured.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by Hammonton Police Fire Investigator Jared Baglivo
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A multiple alarm fire in the town of Hammonton, N.J., laid waste to a building supply and storage facility located along a busy travel corridor in late May. The fire took more than six hours to extinguish and was the worst the town had seen in more than 25 years.
The Hammonton Fire Department is an all-volunteer unit consisting of 80 firefighters operating out of two stations—Company No. 1 and Company No. 2—commanded by Chief Michael Ruberton. The department operates with four engines, a brush unit, a mini-pumper, a 100-foot platform and a water tender and is responsible for 44 square miles of residential area, industry, farms and commercial business in the west end of Atlantic County. The department averages about 400 alarms annually.
An alarm of fire was alerted by the town’s police dispatcher at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday, sending responders to the location of a building housing both Universal Supply Co. and Signature Millwork; the first a building supply company and the second a manufacturer of wood products such as windows, doors and other home remodeling items.
The building was an 80-foot by 200-foot structure, constructed of block walls and a bowstring truss roof but with no sprinkler system.
FIRST ON SCENE
Chief Ruberton arrived in Car F90, assumed command and reported a well-involved structure. Command immediately requested the balance of the first alarm filled out, with a request for a second alarm along with a special call to the Egg Harbor City Fire Department for its 75-foot ladder. This brought fire apparatus from four fire companies—Mullica Township, Folsom, Newtonville and Collings Lakes—that all combined with the adjoining municipalities of Winslow Township and Indian Mills.
Immediately after that call, command requested the Atlantic County Water Tender “B” Bravo Task Force (Atlantic County has two water tender task forces: Alpha covers the eastern end of the county and Bravo the western) and another water tender task force from Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. Command then requested a third alarm and two additional ladders, one from neighboring Winslow Township and one from the Mays Landing Fire Company.
Hammonton’s assistant chief, Michael Pullia, arrived and conferred with command on a plan of action and assumed the role of operations commander. Two plans of attack were decided upon: A large-diameter hose relay was set up along the street, utilizing three fire hydrants—one directly in front of the facility, the second 1,200 feet west and the third another 1,800 feet beyond the second. The second plan of attack set up dump tanks in the parking lot of the facility. This allowed one Hammonton engine to supply master streams to the A and B sides of the structure, while the hydrant directly in front allowed another department engine to supply Hammonton’s Tower 9. A second relay engine pumping from dump tanks supplied an engine and ladder to cover the B and D sides of the structure.
Upon assuming the operations command, Asst. Chief Pullia began preparing for dump tank operations, with three 3,000-gallon “portable ponds” to be set up in front of the involved building. The luxury of a large parking lot in front of the A side allowed for the offloading of four water tenders at once, while the engines drafted off the ponds and supplied water to the scene.
Hammonton Engine 98, a 2,000 gpm pumper, laid in 600 feet of 5-inch LDH (large-diameter hose) supply line from the hydrant that established ground monitor and master stream operations for the Hammonton tower, a 100-foot, rear-mount telescopic device with a 2,000 gpm pump. When this tower arrived, they tied into the LDH on the B side of the building and began flowing its ladder pipe. Hammonton Engine 95, a 1,500 gpm pumper, also tied into this hydrant and began supplying the LDH to support Engine 98 and Tower 9.
Hammonton Engine 99, a 1,250 gpm pumper, laid a 1,200-foot LDH supply line from the second hydrant to the D side of the building, supplying the Egg Harbor ladder. (On the third alarm the Minotola Engine also tied into this hydrant and supplied this line).
Operations directed Hammonton Engine 97, a 1,500 gpm pumper, to set up at the ponds and position itself between the ponds and the building’s A side. This allowed for master stream operations and the supply of the third due tower from Winslow Township. Tanker 9, a 3,500-gallon water tender, set up with Engine 97, offloaded its portable pond and began water shuttle operations.
Chief Anthony Tomasco of the Elwood Volunteer Fire Company arrived and had the portable pond operations assigned to him. Water Tender Task Force commanders William Collins and Clifford “Chip” Stockton arrived and were assigned water tender task force operations.
Mutual aid companies began arriving, with Chief William Donnelly (Collings Lakes) assigned RIT operations along with his crew from Rescue 23. He also assisted the coordination of the incoming water tenders from Gloucester County. Asst. Chief Pullia handled operations and division A, while Hammonton Captain Chuck DeFebbo took division B, Winslow Battalion Chief Michael Passarella took division C and retired Hammonton Chief Frank Domenico handled division D. Winslow Battalion Chief Richard Ianniaco was the command post coordinator for incoming Camden County units and mutual aid, while Atlantic County FieldComm 25 and the Atlantic County fire coordinators assisted with logistics, staging and manpower.
SUPPLY THE DEMAND
The initial fill site for the water tenders was within eyesight of the fire, less than a mile away in Mullica Township. An engine from the Weekstown VFC was positioned there to fill the water tenders, but this didn’t work out as it disrupted the water being flowed at the scene. The Weekstown engine was then moved further west, which proved more favorable as the tenders could make a simple loop—be filled and head right back out to the fire.
At this time, an LDH supply relay was run from the hydrant 3,000 feet west of the fire by engines from Elwood, Landisville, Estell Manor and Indian Mills. This LDH supplied support to the Egg Harbor ladder on the D side of the building. Additional fill sites for the water tenders were established with an engine from Malaga not far from the scene, an engine from Richland that was positioned behind the Hammonton Fire Company Station 2 and an engine from Indian Mills that was a little further away. All this was done to get the engines off the water main that was directly involved on scene.
As the fire progressed, command was advised that rehab and canteen services were established with the Hammonton Rescue Squad, the Atlantic County EMS Task Force, the Atlantic County Red Cross and the Camden County Canteen Services overseeing the operation.
A total of five ponds were established for the offloading of the water tenders on site. Mays Landing and Sweetwater assisted Engine 97 in supplying water from the ponds to the Hammonton and Winslow towers—Winslow was now set up and flowing through its monitor on the A side of the building. Because this was successful, an additional site was established on the east side of the parking lot where Hammonton Engine 95 was flowing from the hydrant. This utilized the tractor-drawn water tenders from East Vineland, Mizpah, Weymouth and Laurel Dale, each carrying 6,000 gallons of water. East Vineland’s water tender served as the “nurse,” allowing for an additional LDH line to be placed into Tower 9.
Mays Landing’s 100-foot ladder was set up on the D side of the structure to protect the stacks of lumber being stored there, and by this time several firefighters had begun removing bundles of lumber away from the building using the forklifts that were found outside in the yard. The chief of police managed to drive two tractor trailers away from the fire area, and a local towing contractor moved all the remaining company vehicles out of the way. This significantly freed up space to work and move apparatus.
Crews worked continuously until 3:45 a.m. when command deemed the fire under control. Mutual aid companies from Gloucester County started being released at 5 a.m., with other operations being broken down and released until 7:30 a.m. Units from Hammonton, Mullica, Winslow, Galloway and Berlin remained on location and worked with heavy equipment operators, hosing down the fire scene as the building was demolished. This lasted until 11 a.m. when all fire was extinguished, with the last Hammonton unit cleared at 11:53 a.m., more than 12 hours from when the fire was first reported.
In all, it was determined that some 200 firefighters worked the incident, not to mention the 15 engines, five aerials, 42 water tenders and 10 support vehicles that were used in addition to all of the Hammonton FD apparatus. Outside support was also provided by the Hammonton and Mullica police departments, the Hammonton Highway Department, the Hammonton Water Department, the Hammonton Rescue Squad, the Atlantic County FieldComm, the Atlantic County Red Cross Canteen, the Camden County Fire Services Canteen, the Atlantic County EMS Task Force and the New Jersey State DOT.
In all, the building was a total loss, but thanks to quick response, solid leadership and outstanding teamwork, the blaze was contained, and more importantly there were no injuries.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Click here for an article from Phillyfirenews.com
Click here for an article from TheDailyJournal.com
1st Responder News
