THOMAS J. NICHOLAS JR. was born in March of 1866 in Pennsylvania. He moved to New Jersey with his wife Mary sometime after the birth of their daughter Margaret in 1885, to work as a wools sorter at the  Howland Croft Sons & Company textile mill. The family lived at 1835 South 4th Street when the 1890-1891 Camden City directory was compiled. Their son Joseph was born in Camden New Jersey on February 3, 1890. The 1900 Census shows that Thomas Nicholas and his family were living at 1703 South 4th Street. He was then still working as a wool sorter at Howland Croft.

The 1906 Camden City Directory shows that Thomas Nicholas had joined the Camden Fire department. He was sill living at 1703 South 4th Street. The 1910 Census list Thomas Nicholas and family at 413 Van Hook Street. By 1914 he had been 

promoted to Captain. The City Directory for that year shows the Nicholas family at 1713 Broadway. He was assigned to Engine Company 3 located in the 1800 Block of Broadway.

Son Joseph's draft card indicates that he was living at 137 Chestnut Street in Woodlynne, New Jersey. The 1920 Census shows Thomas Nicholas, his wife and son Joseph living at 133 Chestnut Street in Woodlynne. By this time Thomas Nicholas had been promoted to Battalion Chief. By 1924 he had been promoted to Deputy Chief, and in 1926 he succeeded Peter B. Carter as Chief of Department. Thomas Nicholas was the first Chief to be appointed by the merit system of the newly established Civil Service authority.

On June 1, 1926, the City began construction of the Fourteenth Street Viaduct on Federal Street, connecting center city with East Camden. Previously, the section of Federal Street from Newton Avenue to River Avenue intersected Bridge Boulevard (the Admiral Wilson) and other streets at grade level. The apron in front of the quarters of Engine Company 5 adjoined the curbline on Federal Street. The construction of the viaduct elevated the Federal Street roadbed to second story level, providing an overpass for both the Cooper River and Bridge Boulevard, but effectively obstructing the fire station. On November 3, 1925, the building was closed and Engine Company 5 was permanently relocated to East Camden to share quarters with Engine Company 9 and Ladder Company 3. The garage door opening that many members will recall, at the rear of Engine 9' s firehouse on the Federal Street side, was made to accommodate the apparatus of Engine Company 5.

On July 1, 1926, the Camden Bridge, renamed the Delaware River Bridge and later the Benjamin Franklin, was opened to traffic. Four days later on Monday, July 5th, President Calvin Coolidge inaugurated the grand structure at its formal dedication. Spanning the Delaware River between the State of New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the structure joined the Cities of Camden and Philadelphia over a 9,750 foot roadway with a central span of 1,750 feet. At a cost of nearly $40 million dollars, the span when completed was the longest suspension bridge in the world predating such engineering marvels as the Golden Gate of California and the Verrazano in New York. Prior to the bridge's construction, all traffic between Pennsylvania and New Jersey had to rely on river ferries for transportation.

The opening of the Camden Bridge was heralded by officials as the Gateway to the Garden State. But to many North Camden residents, the opening of the bridge was long regarded as the catalyst in the decline of many North Camden neighborhoods. As a barrier of both physical and psychologi­cal comportment, the bridge with its broad approaches was said to isolate much of North Camden from the rest of the City and from center city in particular. In 1928, no one of course could imagine the degree of urban blight that would inflict North Camden in just little more than thirty years. 

Also on July 5, 1926, the Department organized a temporary fire company at the South Jersey Exposition grounds located off Haddon Avenue near Mickle Boulevard and what is now the Route 676 expressway. This unit operated as a one-piece engine company with an apparatus assigned from Engine Company 8. Known as the South Jersey Exposition Company, the independent unit occupied a pre-fabricated firehouse and functioned as the Department's twelfth engine company through the end of summer when it was disbanded with the closing of the exposition on September 9, 1926. 

Organized on January 1, 1928, the Box 315 Association was chartered for the mutual benefit of Camden Firemen, its principal purpose being to fund a commemorative badge for all members of the Department retiring at twenty or more years of service. In the event that an active member died before achieving retirement status, a death benefit in the sum of $20.00 would be paid to the member's estate. Its title, 315, was arbitrarily chosen as the number of the first Box transmitted over the circuits, following the organization's formation. A cabinet of Officers; a By-Laws Committee; Auditing Committee; and a Board of Trustees comprised of one representative from each fire company in the City, were designated by election and appointment.

All active members of the Department were expected to join the organization. An initiation fee of $1.00 and regular dues assessed at ten cents per month, funded operations. Any member of the Department that failed to join the organization within three months after completing his probationary period in the Uniformed Force, was required to pay an initiation fee of $5.00, plus the average of all dues and assessments incurred from the time he was eligible to join. The association met on the first Wednesday of each month.

Charter members of the By-Laws Committee were Chester Andrus, Chairman; Harry Wagner, Henry Zook, Harrison Pike, William Spencer and Nelson Andrews. The association is believed to have actively functioned until sometime during the 1940s.

The South Camden neighborhood near Haddon Avenue and the White Horse Pike was predominantly a light industrial area located near the city limits. Comprised largely of warehouses, small factories and lumber yards, the occurrence of major fires in this area was quite infrequent over the years, despite the potential fire load. The exception occurred on June 27, 1929, at the George D. Wetherill Varnish Company. A fire broke out in the thinning room of the production facility and the plant fire brigade failed in its attempt to control the hot, volatile blaze. The flames quickly spread to involve an adjacent building. be Box was transmitted for the White Horse Pike and Ferry Avenue at 11 :59 A.M. Engine Company 10 responding second due, could see the looming column of smoke and fire nearly a mile away, as they rounded the bend at Morgan and Fairview Streets.

Fire fighters were inundated with nearly one explosion every minute during the first hour of operations. Around 1 P.M., some five hundred barrels of benzine exploded shooting columns of flame 200-300 feet in the air. Moments later, a sixty gallon tank was blown above the dense cloud of smoke. The rocketing missile burst into flaming shrapnel, scattering firemen, employees and spectators in every direction. 

Third Alarm companies arrived at a scene of pandemonium as flaming oil and chemicals rained down on the area surrounding the plant. Several members and other persons were burned, some severely. Fireman Irving Bishop of Engine Company 8 was overcome by dense smoke. By 1:30 P.M., the plant was a raging inferno. Four railroad tank cars filled with gasoline were burning furiously, as were five freight cars on an elevated siding that adjoined the rear of the complex. The fire threatened three 6,000 gallon naptha tanks on the adjoining property of the Haddon Motor Company as well as several other nearby businesses. Under conditions of extreme heat and noxious fumes, fire fighters fought bravely to contain the firestorm. By the time an army of firemen gained the upper hand on their enemy, five of eight buildings at the plant had been destroyed. Twenty people were reported injured and damages exceeded $200,000. 

Over many decades, more than just a few of the City's long established industries sustained recurring fires, several of which were especially notable. Industries containing highly combustible stock or inflammable materials processing were ripe for recurring fire incidents - many of spectacular proportion. Along much of the City's waterfront, from North Camden southward to the far regions of South Camden, were the sites of many industrial facilities that posed serious fire problems. Lumber yards, rag factories, leather tanning, and paper manufacturing were just a few of a great many and diverse industries that posed formidable and ever present chall­enges for fire fighters. The West Jersey Paper Manufacturing Company was one particular firm involved in numerous fires over the years, many of which were quite arduous for the Department. As a long established industry, West Jersey Paper held several production and warehouse facilities throughout various parts of the City.

Shortly before 8 A.M. on July 11, 1929, a twelve year old boy walking along Front Street near Elm saw smoke coming from the West Jersey Paper Company. The factory building, a large structure, was heavily fortified with reinforced doors and steel mesh window screens. The Box at Point and Pearl Streets was transmitted and Engines 6, 4 and 2 with Ladder 1 and Battalion 1 turned out. As the alarm was received shortly before Roll Call, several units responded with the manpower of double strength companies. The building's fortifications posed serious forcible entry and ventilation problems for arriving fire fighters. By the time companies got water on the blaze, the entire paper and lime stock was ruined. The factory erupted into huge clouds of dense, acrid smoke as the fire extended to roll after roll of paper stock. Armed with pike poles and axes, Truckies wore themselves out forcing entry to countless windows and doors along the perimeter of the building.

As handlines were advanced to the interior of the structure, Hosemen Harry Layton and George Kirby became lost inside the factory under worsening smoke conditions. Fortunately, Kirby located a doorway and guided Layton to the outside where both men collapsed in the street. The new mascot of Engine Company 2, Jack the Airedale, belonged to Fireman Artie Batten. This blaze was the dog's first major fire and he caused considerable comment among the men. Dashing into the heavily charged building, accompanying Fireman Batten and braving the dense smoke for twenty minutes at a time, the mascot would only return to the street when Engine 2 would withdraw for a blow of fresh air. For many years to come, Jack would attend hundreds of fires with Engine Company 2, and would later be killed in the line of duty. In all, seven fire fighters were overcome in the dense smoke of the paper factory. The blaze resulted in a $65,000 property loss and was the third serious fire to occur at that location in twenty-five years.

The Schulte-United Store occupied a five-story building at #23 Broadway between Federal and Carman Streets, center city. Around 2:30 A.M. on December 30, 1929, a fire of suspicious origin was discovered by two men who pulled Box 94 at Broadway and Federal Streets. Heavy smoke produced punishing conditions which prevented firemen from entering the basement. The second alarm was ordered as engine companies dropped lines to the basement level through elevator shafts in an attempt to darken the blaze. 

This effort proved unsuccessful as the fire raced upward in the shafts from the basement to the roof. Greater Alarms were transmitted to develop additional master streams on the upper floors. By 6 A.M., the first floor collapsed into the basement in a thundering roar. It was another two hours before Chief Thomas Nicholas declared the fire under control. Police questioned two janitors after discovering cans of coal oil on the roof of an adjoining building. The men were later released. 

All cities have long held certain sections or districts that pose extraordinary potential for serious fires. When firemen were heard to say "that's a bad Box", they meant that the area from which an alarm was received, often contained special hazards associated with certain types of buildings or occupancies. The City of Camden was certainly no exception. 

Three fifty-one Box at Fillmore Street and Chelton Avenue served a heavy industrial area, of lower Broadway in South Camden. While Camden Fire Fighters throughout the fifties, sixties and seventies, might only remember the infrequent alarm for dumpsters in the project, or an occasional freight car in the nearby rail yards, this neighborhood held special meaning for generations of fire fighters during the earlier decades of the century.

Bulson Street was a macadam service road that ran east to west from Fourth to Eleventh Streets, adjoining the South Camden rail yards. Along Bulson Street between Sixth and Master, stood a complex of towering grain elevators, some as large as eight stories in height. These structures held hundreds of metric tons of grain, for both the nearby brewery and as interim storage for rail transportation. Dust explosions and fires associated with spontaneous combustion, produced frequent and spectacular blazes. It was said that as soon as Box 351 tapped in for Fillmore Street and Chelton Avenue, second alarm units would be putting their boots on in the firehouses even before the first due company had arrived.

At 4 A.M. on Good Friday, April 18, 1930, Box 351 went for three alarms at Sixth and Bulson Streets, South Camden. As Engine Company 8 turned into Broadway, responding first due on the second alarm, they could see heavily involved grain elevator looming many distant blocks away.

At 7 P.M. on Monday, May 5, 1930,Engine Company 10 responded over  twenty-five miles on mutual aid, to the Colony of Medford Lakes, New Jersey. A fast moving blaze in the Pine Barrens threatened numerous buildings in the village. Over twenty-five fire companies and an estimated two thousand fire fighters worked throughout the night to contain the fire.

Engine 10 drafted from several lakes as the blaze burned to the edge of the colony before being stopped. Engine Company 10 operated for nearly eleven hours, returning to the City around 7 A.M. the following morning.

On March 1, 1932, units of the Department responded on mutual aid to the City of Pennsgrove for a conflagration involving fifty-seven buildings, mostly frame dwellings in the residential district. Serious water supply problems overwhelmed Salem County fire companies and caused the fire to rapidly spread from building to building, jumping across streets. Camden Fire Fighters placed apparatus on nearby wharfs and bulkheads along the Delaware River and drafted to control the blaze. Engine Companies 2 and 10 under the direction of Chief Thomas Nicholas positioned themselves directly in the path of the advancing inferno to cutoff the rapidly spreading fire. They worked with companies from Salem and were credited with halting the  flames before they reached the business district.

During the years of the Great Depression, the Federal Government formed the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) which provided thousands of jobs, predominantly among public works projects. The re-building of roads, bridges and infrastructure provided temporary employment of a highly constructive nature. In the City of Camden, the Fire Department endeavored to acquire a high-pressure fire hydrant system. The proposed project would install a high pressure pumping station at the Delaware River with a large diameter grid supplying a separate network of hydrants. The network would service the entire center city area from the Delaware River to the Cooper River. Such high-pressure hydrants would operate at 120 PSI without the benefit of fire apparatus. The W.P.A. would provide the labor force and equipment necessary to erect the system, at no cost to local government. The City would furnish all of the required material. As a result of other fiscal priorities in municipal government, the City declined this valuable opportunity to acquire high-pressure service.

At 7:15 A.M. on March 9, 1932, grocer Benjamin Plevinsky while opening his store at Locust and Spruce Streets, South Camden, heard a tremendous explosion. The blast occurred in a purifying tank in the Public Service Electric and Gas Company plant near Locust and Cherry Streets. Mr. Plevinsky looked up and saw a man engulfed in flames, attempting to descend the stairway from the tank. The grocer immediately telephoned the fire department. Arriving fire fighters attempted to rescue numerous workers reported to be trapped in the tank, but were repeatedly driven back by noxious sulfur fumes. Firemen donned breathing apparatus but were still repelled as the fumes penetrated the primitive masks. By the time the fire was extinguished, fourteen employees were missing.

Assisted by workmen, the fire fighters removed the charred and mangled bodies by noon. It was believed that a spark from a workman's shovel or shoe nail may have ignited vapors in the tank.

The Public Service car barns at Tenth Street and Newton Avenue, South Camden, were a series of block long, one-story garage buildings that served as storage facilities for more than a hundred buses.

Near 2:30 A.M. on the night of July 29, 1932, during a driving rain storm, a bolt of lightning started a fire in the large machine shop adjoining the coach facility. The blaze rapidly extended to exploding acetylene and gasoline tanks. Three alarms were transmitted in quick succession as companies attempted an aggressive interior attack with big handlines. With fire roaring over the heads of advancing fire fighters, Chief Thomas Nicholas ordered all companies out of the building, just in time. As The last unit to withdraw, Engine Company 1 had just backed their line out of the building when shortly after 3 A.M., a terrific explosion blew out the front and rear walls, causing a major collapse of the roof. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries. The building was completely destroyed resulting in a $250.000 loss. The under control signal was given shortly after 4 A.M.

In 1932 following a seven year tenure, Chief of Department Thomas Nicholas retired. Chief John Lennox was appointed as his successor. Chief Nicholas and his wife and son were still living at 133 Chestnut Street in Woodlynne when he passed away on October 3, 1935. Tragically, son Joseph died only 18 days later.