CAMDEN – Frank Thompson spent time at his second home with his helpers installing the new washer and dryer, after delivering the dryer himself.
His second home is 111 years old and at 901 North 27 th Street, where Camden Fire Department Engine 11 waits for fire calls to the brick firehouse that sits askew from the street because it was built when there were only dirt paths.
Captain Thompson, who grew up in Camden and now lives in Pennsauken, has achieved legendary status among fellow firefighters for his construction/handyman skills and how he has put them to use in his firehouse.
“Why not fix it?” Thompson asked during a recent interview. “If I’m going to be here, I want to be comfortable.”
His washer/dryer project is a standout example: the city paid for the washer, but the firefighters at Engine 11 chipped in for the dryer.
This is a city with four out of six firehouses that are more than a century old, some still with vestiges of old horse-drawn fire engines (the department mechanized in 1916). Two still have brass poles firefighters slide down.
But with the charm of the Fire Department’s antique buildings comes heavy maintenance.
And across the city, much of the upkeep and improvements inside are done free of charge by handy firefighters on their long shifts.
“This is a second home to them,” Fire Chief Jesse Flax said of the 182 firefighters who work from the six firehouses. Firefighters are on the job 24 hours and then are off for 72 hours before returning for another 24-hour shift. They sleep in the firehouse and eat all of their meals in the kitchen, where firefighters each have cooking duties, although some enjoy cooking most of the time.
Flax recently toured a few historic firehouses with TAPinto Camden, starting with the one built in 1899 – the oldest, opened 30 years after the founding of the department – at 15 North 27 th Street that houses Engine 9. None of the Camden firehouses were built in this century. The years, besides the 1899 firehouse, are 1910 (Squad 7), 1913 (Engine 11), 1919 (Engine 10), 1978 (Engine 1) and 1993 (Engine 8).
In many cases, the work that firefighters have done on their old firehouses contrasts sharply with the worn condition of the aging buildings.
In Engine 9's quarters, firefighters provided the labor to replace the floor in the firehouse’s kitchen and converted a bedroom to a bathroom to accommodate female firefighters (there are six in the department).
They “improve their living quarters,” Flax explained. “Once you get the momentum started, you start to see” the possibilities.
More funds to improve firehouses are expected, and in turn more labor by handy firefighters to stretch the number of projects.
City Council this month approved an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, asking for $6,461,940 in block grant money to rehab city firehouses and buy vehicles.
Captain Thompson sat at a table next to a fire truck at Engine 9's North 27 th Street firehouse, where he was filling in. He was deep in conversation with two young firefighters, with the temperature rising in the space that is not air-conditioned. The firefighter quarters on the second floor are cooled.
"We teach each other everything in here," he said. That includes both firefighting and construction skills, Thompson added. Firefighting experience in Camden ranges from six months to 30 years, according to Chief Flax.
Firefighting today is far more complicated than it was for previous generations, said Captain Robert Eckert of Squad 7 at 1115 Kaighn Avenue – the busiest fire company in the city.
"You pass it on to the young guys," said Eckert, an 18-year firefighter, who pointed with pride to his firehouse’s improvements that all were done by firefighters, except for the floor under the fire engine.
The floor. That was a historic moment for the 114-year-old firehouse when, in 2018, the rear wheels of the fire truck broke through and sank toward the basement below.
Extensive repairs – far more than could be expected of firefighter construction – were needed, and the basement was shut down and a new concrete floor was poured. One of the basement’s previous uses was to store hay, which was lifted to the first floor by a dumbwaiter to feed the horses.
Like other firehouses, Eckert’s second home is packed with firefighting memorabilia and photos.
For many, family histories are part of firefighting’s history. Chief Flax’s father retired from the Camden department in 1994 after 27 years as a firefighter.
Other firefighters will share stories of their fathers, uncles, brothers and other relatives who have been committed to the service as they are today.
A sign hanging in Eckert’s firehouse notes: “Every Damn Day.”
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