Austin
E.
Marks

Camden Courier-Post * January 17, 1955

Robert A. Wonsetler - Irvin F. Bishop - William Van Pfefferle - John J. Graham - Austin Marks
Pleasant Street - Constitution Road - Ladder Company 2

Camden Courier-Post
January 26, 1957

Stevens Street
Dr. Louis C. Riegert
Anthony McKenzie
Austin Marks
Viola Brown
Carlos Brown
Patricia McKenzie
Charles Brown
Walt Whitman Hotel

Camden Courier-Post * December 2, 1957

Christmas at the Marks home - Late 1950s

January 14, 1964
Camden Fire Department 1869-1994 125th Year Anniversary Book

On the bitter cold night of January 14th, 1964, as members were standing roll call throughout the firehouses of the City, Box 328 tapped in for Broadway and Chestnut Street at 6:02 P.M. Engine Company 1, Engine Company 8, Ladder Company 2 and Chief Theodore Primas of the 3rd Battalion responded. Arriving units found heavy smoke pushing from the first floor of Walmart Tailors, a three-story building with apartments above. Police had already led nine occupants to safety before the arrival of the fire fighters. Engine 8 stretched the first line while Ladder 2 was ordered to force the door. Moments later, the plate glass windows failed and the store front lit up in a ball of fire. Chief Primas transmitted a second alarm and ordered the deployment of master streams. The fire extended to all floors of the building and broke through the roof as bitter cold winds whipped the flames out into the street. Extreme icing upon ladders, apparatus and streets surfaces made for treacherous operations.

Deputy Chief Austin Marks who responded to the second alarm, special called an additional engine company and further ordered the recall of 35 off duty members , directly to the fire for relief purposes. As conditions deteriorated, a third alarm was transmitted to reinforce relief operations. Shortly after the third alarm, Captain Leonard Iannelli of Ladder Company 2 - the first due truck, collapsed on the sidewalk from a heart attack. Brother firemen rushed to his aid and Battalion Chief Primas personally attended to the unconscious officer. In the ambulance while enroute to the hospital, Chief Primas performed mouth to mouth resuscitation all the way. In spite of these efforts, Captain Iannelli was pronounced dead at the hospital. 

By this time, the fire had destroyed most of the building as the roof collapsed on to the top floor causing some wall sections to fall into Chestnut Street. Fire fighters concentrated their efforts on saving the adjoining Camden Roofing Supply Company. At one point a half-dozen master streams were directed into a narrow alley that separated the roofing supply from the fire building. Units were successful in protecting this exposure and firemen were also credited with saving the huge John's Bargain Store just a few doors down from the fire. Following a six hour battle, the blaze was controlled shortly before midnight although companies would remain at the scene for over 24 hours. On the following morning, the scene resembled an ice palace as firemen used axes and halligan bars to pry frozen hose embedded in thick street ice. 

Like his father, Leonard Iannelli died in the line of duty as a Camden fire fighter.  Tragically, Captain Iannelli's brother, Carmen Iannelli would also give his life while protecting the City of Camden, in 1975. 

Engine Company 8 with deckpipe from hose wagon, operates master stream into top floor of commercial building during Third Alarm at Walmart Clothing, Broadway & Chestnut Streets, South Camden on 1-14-1964.

Units press an all out attack as Chief Officers confer during Third Alarm at Broadway &  Chestnut Streets in South Camden on 1-14-1964.

Fighting two enemies at the same time amid fire and ice is a frequent scourge of fire fighters. Members are seen directing exterior streams at Walmart fire, Broadway &  Chestnut Streets on  1-14-1964 under punishing conditions.

At Broadway & Chestnut Streets in South Camden. Member seen at center of photo is Ladder Company 2 Captain Leonard Iannelli just moments before his death. At left is Deputy Chief Austin Marks during Third Alarm, 1-14-1964.

Blaze Destroys 3 Buildings; Fireman Dies, Two Are Injured
9 Left Without Homes

By Fredrick Smigelski and Charles Q. Finley

A fast moving fire fanned by a bitterly cold wind destroyed three buildings in South Camden last night, left one fireman dead, two others injured, and nine persons homeless.

As dense smoke, chunks of flaming debris and showers of sparks spewed high into the night, the roaring blaze wrecked Walmart Tailors, Inc. at 1101 Broadway and two floors above the store used as an apartment house, the Style Nook Dress Shop at 1103 Broadway, and Jean's Hosiery Shop at 1105 Broadway.

With only seconds to spare, Police Sergeant John Ferry and Patrolman Alfred Hayes entered the 1101 building and led the occupants, many of them elderly, to safety as flames mushroomed from the basement toward the roof.

Eleven pieces of equipment were still at the scene this morning.

Captain Dies

Fire Captain Leonard Iannelli, 41, of 3055 Stevens Street and attached to Truck Company 2, collapsed at the scene. He was dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital of an apparent heart attack.

Fire District Chief Frank Deal, 39, of 412 North 37th Street, was treated at Cooper Hospital for smoke inhalation. John Yates, 63, of 2400 South 8th Street with Engine Company 2, was treated at West Jersey Hospital for smoke inhalation and a back injury.

Among those made homeless by the fire were Claude W. Darnell and Mrs. Carey Morgan, both 80; William Schaffer, 77; and Charles Hill, 67 and his wife who is 62; Mrs. Frances Matthews, 53; Helen Saltzman and James Early.

Iannelli was standing on Broadway next to Lieutenant Colonel William A. Gwynne of the Volunteers of America, a chaplain, who was serving coffee and food. District Chief Theodore Primas gave mouth to mouth resuscitation on the way to the hospital. Coroner Schaffhauser was notified. He said Iannelli died either from a heart attack or smoke inhalation. The possibility of an autopsy was being discussed this morning.

Police Aid Elderly

Iannelli's brother, Carmen, is with Engine Company 9 and was on duty on the time but not at the fire. He went to the hospital when told of the tragedy.

Ferry and Hayes were first on the scene after the alarm was sounded at 6:03 by a nearby merchant. They entered through a back door and ran upstairs to the second floor where they kicked in doors, rounded up the confused occupants and got them out safely. They then went to the third floor and found Early and Darnell.

The fore spread rapidly and soon huge balls of flame were pouring from the windows as burning frames fell to the pavement. Chairs, a shower fixture, a mirror on a wall, could be seen briefly through the windows in the mass of flame inside, then they fell into the inferno.

The roof collapsed, then sections of the third floor wall on the Chestnut Street side began falling into the fire.

Firewall Credited

Smoke filled Schrack's Paint Store at 1107 Broadway and a firewall was credited with helping to save John's Bargain Store at 1109-1111 Broadway.

Firemen carried a hose to the roof of the Camden Roofing Supply Company on Chestnut Street to the rear of the fire. At one point a half dozen streams of water were being poured into the flames as they burned furiously on one side of a small alley which separated the roofing company from the fire.

Harold Walter, owner of Walmart Tailors, Inc. was trying to get his car out of a snow bank nearby when the fire started, He gave firemen keys to open the gate he had just closed across the front of his store.

Fire Chief Edward MacDowell said the blaze had apparently started in the basement of 1101 Broadway but no cause had been determined immediately.

Fireplugs Froze

Engine Companies 8 and 1 and Truck 2 responded to the first alarm with District Chief Theodore Primas. The second alarm was sounded at 6:10, bringing Engine Companies 3 and 7, and Truck Company 1, Rescue Squad 1, District Chief Deal and Deputy Fire Chief Austin Marks.

At 8:02 Engine Company 2  was summoned and at 8:45 35 off duty firemen were called to relieve firemen exhausted by the cold. The spray from hoselines covered streets and equipment with sheets of ice.

When firemen arrived they found fireplugs frozen and had to use heaters to get the water flowing.

Police held back large crowds which gathered despite the cold and wind. The fire burned out of control for six hours and was not declared under control until midnight. The area was closed to traffic during the fire.

Traffic this morning was detoured off Broadway between Mt. Vernon Street and Kaighn Avenue.

Wind Shifted

Primas said there was a west wind when the fire broke out but that it shifted to the north, during the flames into the buildings to the south.

Iannelli is survived by his wife Olga, two sons, Leonard Jr. and Dennis, and a daughter, Mary, at home; his mother, Mrs. Rose Iannelli, of Camden; and two brothers, Carmen and Frank of Camden.

Iannelli's late father, Frank, was a firemen 21 years and died of a heart attack after fighting a fire in April of 1942.

Iannelli joined the fire department in March, 1948 and was made captain four years later. He was a veteran of World War II.

Because of the large amount of stock involved, the extent of the damages were not immediately known.