The investigation is ongoing into a recent massive scrapyard fire in Camden that caused more than 100 people to evacuate and heavy smoke to travel as far as 15 miles away.

The owner of the metal junkyard EMR, said the fire was sparked by a lithium ion battery which are banned from the facility.

But neighbors have long complained about the way EMR conducts business and other fires that have broken out over the years.

The company planned a community meeting in Camden Wednesday night to answer questions from the public, but canceled it abruptly.

Ted Goldberg spoke with affected residents who say EMR has escaped any real consequences.

Simply because of where it operates.

Let's be honest and frank and real blunt.

It's horrible.

It's a nightmare.

Can you imagine?

Elliot Jones lives less than a mile from the EMR scrap yard in Camden.

Close enough to smell it.

This is for the smell of the trash.

He or she had a pretty close view of the four alarm fire that broke out there a few weeks ago.

Jones was scared, but not shocked.

It's a horror feeling to know not if it happens again, but when it's me.

My asthma ten times worse.

I actually been put out of work since the fire.

I have a dilemma.

Anxiety and or depression.

Those issues have kept Jones out of work, but today is her first day back.

She says in the future, EMR should do a better job of notifying residents when problems arise at the scrapyard.

Call it what it is.

Sound the alarm.

We hear the crashing of the cars and crushing other cars and things like that.

We hear that making a friendly sound or warning sound that, hey, something's on fire or some smell is leaking out this as a stay in or relocate.

It's just sadly become status quo here and it's unacceptable.

Ben Scirocco lives two or three miles from the scrapyard, but he can smell it on windy days.

The scrap yard has a polarizing reputation in Camden.

EMR employs more than 100 locals, but their scrapyard also caught fire in 2022 and the previous owner was fined about $24,000 for various violations in 2007.

I will admit they do employ a sizable amount of city residents, which is a good thing.

But I think that the city needs to do a little bit better job of not just looking out for economic interests of the city, but really looking out for the environmental justice issues.

While they want to say that they're a good community neighbor, on one hand, behind the scenes, we know that they're working as a very well-resourced company to try to avoid any further regulations on their operation.

John Compton leads the Center for Environmental Transformation in Camden, which threatened to sue EMR three years ago for problems with the scrapyard.

He remembers that fire from February 21st.

It was a scary, raging inferno and I didn't feel safe and I was worried about the fire spreading.

EMR and officials have blamed the most recent fire on a lithium ion battery that should have never been there.

Firefighters needed about 18 hours to put out the flames, and a battalion observed that heavy fire spread caused by EMR employees moving, burning material to the surrounding pile and on to an industrial conveyor belt leading to a building.

Their actions caused the four storey building to be fully engulfed in flames.

Camden is one of those locations where companies like EMR can locate and operate in a way that would not be allowed in other, more affluent areas.

Scrap yards are not the same as a recycler that takes separate and recycling components and just passes them, not passes them on.

They're dealing with a variety of substances that they stockpile in large amounts on their property, creating fire hazards.

The initial fire report doesn't say what caused the fire, but it doesn't mention lithium ion batteries either.

A new ordinance in Camden would penalize anybody knowingly sending batteries to the scrapyard.

It really puts the onus on individuals and the producers of these goods from preventing these types of batteries to get into the waste stream.

And to me, that's unacceptable.

This is really just EMR, in my opinion, trying to shirk responsibility and liability by putting it on this this boogeyman of something they can't control, this hidden battery that just they can't do anything about it.

They can't increase their fire suppression systems.

They can't increase training for staff.

EMR did not comment on this story, and neither did officials for Candide, City or county.

In Camden, I'm Ted Goldberg.

NJ Spotlight News.