Penns Grove Liberty fire Co.

Penns Grove Liberty Fire Co. 1905 at Penn and Harmony St.

Liberty Fire Company #1. 1905-1906 Marvin Johnson, Thomas Morgan, Charles Lanning,
Charles Whiticker and D. Johnson

Penns Grove Fire Dept.

March 2, 1932 Local News Account of the Penns Grove Fire.

    About sixty-five homes and places of business in Penns Grove were badly damaged or totally destroyed by fire which swept that Boro yesterday afternoon. Loss was estimated at $250,000 to $500,000.
    First discovered shortly before one o'clock in a small shack at the rear of a barn at Barber's Wharf, just west of main St. on Delaware Ave., the flames were fanned to blast-furnace heat by the strong wind blowing off the shore.
    Members of Penns Grove Liberty Fire Company, quickly responded, and under Chief Dennis Fahy, made a brave fight to prevent the disaster. At first no great danger was apparent, but the fierce winds spread the flames with unbelievable rapidity. Within a few minutes the barn, filled with hay, was a mass of roaring flame, so hot that fireman could not get within fighting distance.
    Burning wisps of hay began to fly in all directions, and the roofs of several nearby buildings were ignited. Chief Fahy quickly sent out a general alarm to several nearby towns. Pillars of flames quickly jumped from house to house and burning bits were blown to the roofs of houses blocks away.
    The blocks bounded by Main St. to Harmony on Delaware Ave. to Franklin on Harmony St. and back to Main St. on Franklin St. were the scene of the greatest ruin. Practically all buildings within this area with the exception of several on Main St. were either levelled to the ground or irreparably gutted.
    Rows of homes on both sides of Harmony St. were quickly swept down. Bethel Methodist Protestant Church was burned to the ground. Sparks ignited and threatened to destroy St. Paul's M.E. Church, but fireman drenched the building with water and extinguished the blaze without serious damage.
    An unfailing water supply and tremendous resources in fire fighting equipment eventually checked the spread of the flames. Water was pumped in the mains from the regular water works at Perkintown and also from the water works at the Dupont Plant. Pressure was kept at 50 pounds throughout the fire. Pumpers took water directly from the river.
    By four o'clock enough pieces of apparatus had arrived to place streams of water on every building which blazed or was threatened. By five o'clock the fire was well under control and the visiting fire companies began to leave.
    A total of 52 fire companies representing three states were present assisting Penns Grove. Two volunteer workers, both residents of Penns Grove, were injured seriously enough to require treatment at the Salem County Memorial Hospital, and numerous others were treated on the scene or at the DuPont Emergency Hospital.
    Those treated at the Salem hospital were Edwin Naylor, 26, 161 West Main St., torn ligaments of the right knee and possible fracture of the right leg; B.L. Cummings, 103 West Main St. for suffocation and discharged.
    Naylor, the most seriously injured, was struck by a truck driven by Albert Johnson, Penns Grove, in the scenes of wild excitement while the flames were at their height.
    Fire Marshal David Johnson of the Salem County Firemen's Association made his first call for outside assistance within ten minutes after reaching the scene. He phoned both Woodstown and Salem and these two responded immediately. Finding further assistance necessary, he called the Glouster County fire department and requeste every available piece of apparatus and then called upon Wilmington and Camden.
    Two companies from Camden made the trip in record time of 30 minutes, escorted by motorcyclee policemen, who cleared the way. Four companies from Wilmington were transported across the river on the Penns Grove-Wilmington Ferry. Five other towns from Delaware with apparatus and men. It was estimated that upwards of 2000 men assisted in combating the holocaust.
    From Philadelphia came the Second Alarm Association, an organization that supplies food and first aid to the firemen of that city at the time of big fires there.
    With a great many families rendered homeless, individual residents of Penns Grove took the unfortunate ones into their homes and prepared to feed and shelter them until other arrangements are made.
    With very little disturbance the relief program got under way in charge of Mayor Robert W. Kidd. Individuals who have not been accommodated in private homes are being taken care of in the schools and churches of Penns Grove and Carney's Point.
    W.H. Chew, county director of unemployment relief, drove to Penns Grove last evening and consulted with Mayor Kidd as to means of cleaning up the debris. It is expected that a force of men will be put to work today in the preliminary business of cleaning the fallen bricks and timbers off the streets affected.

Penns Grove's Finest in action at the corner of North Broad Street and East Harmony Street. (1949.)
The Penns Grove Acme (American Store) was a total loss but neighboring homes were saved with the exception the half of the duplex where the fire started on Harmony St.