Proposed settlement reflects EMR contractor’s recommendations
Many of the requirements in the proposed settlement agreement reflect recommendations from a contractor hired by EMR to review the company’s fire safety procedures in the wake of the May 29 fire.
During that fire, EMR’s fire suppression system — completed about a month prior — helped contain the fire but partially malfunctioned, according to Camden Fire Chief Jesse Flax.
A copy of the June 9 report prepared by R. Thomas Long, Jr., an engineer with the consulting firm Exponent, shows he recommended EMR “complete installation and perform site acceptance testing” of the fire suppression system, and employ a 24/7 fire watch to patrol the facility until that is complete. Long also recommended EMR develop a standard operating procedure for the fire suppression system, train employees to use it on automatic and manual modes, and develop a standard operating procedure for fire response that includes only removing debris from a burning pile when water is being applied to it. After a four-alarm fire in 2025, firefighters wrote in a post-incident report that EMR employees had worsened the fire by moving burning material from the scrap metal pile onto a conveyor belt leading into the shredder.
Possible settlement comes after Camden Mayor said ‘enough is enough’
The proposed settlement strikes a more conciliatory tone than city leaders adopted just over a month ago after the May 29 fire at EMR’s shredder. That day, Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen, City Council President Angel Fuentes and City Council Vice President Arthur Barclay called for county, state and federal agencies to shut down the facility.
“Enough is enough,” Carstarphen said at the time. “The city has worked with EMR to improve facilities, but today, this morning, having another two-alarm fire that occurred is truly unacceptable.”
“We entered into a MOU agreement with EMR … to improve the quality of life of [the] Waterfront South community in the city of Camden,” he added. “And after all of this, after numerous fires, numerous attempts to help EMR prevent future fires, here we are again. … This will no longer be tolerated by me, my colleagues, elected officials here and more importantly our residents.”
A lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and Department of Environmental Protection early this year claims the fires resulted from unsafe conditions at EMR’s facilities that the company failed to take “appropriate steps” to fix.