New Yorkers in Exile

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As Jersey Shore Boardwalk Smolders, Investigation Continues

By KATE ZERNIKE and MARC SANTORA


The investigation into what sparked a devastating fire on Thursday that destroyed dozens of businesses along one of the most famous boardwalks on the Jersey Shore has not yet determined a cause, said Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

“We need to let the fire investigators do their job,” Mr. Christie said at a news conference Friday. Even as local business owners speculated about how the blaze was started, Mr. Christie said it would be irresponsible to jump to any conclusions.

“We honestly have no idea,” Mr. Christie said. “It is not even 24 hours since the fire started. We spent all of our time and resources on fighting the fire.”

The extent of the damage became clear Friday morning, as firefighters continued to hose down smoldering embers and search for other hot pockets that could pose a danger.

More than 400 firefighters battled the blaze for hours Thursday and into the morning Friday. Twice, they dug fire break trenches in an effort to stop its spread along the same stretch of boardwalk that was hard hit during Hurricane Sandy less than one year ago.

Mr. Christie said that four entire blocks were destroyed.

“We lost a place that has provided generations of memories to our citizens,” he said.

The Music Sound shop was reduced to a smoldering wreck. Bubba’s Dog House, Three Brothers from Italy Pizza, Kupper’s French Fries, Jack-N-Bills Bar were just a few of the summer favorites completely leveled.

Daniel Shauger, manager of the Funtown Park Arcade, surveyed the damage to his business from a distance.

“Everyone is struggling down here, and now everything is completely destroyed,” he said. He was anxious to get inside and take a look at what was left, but knew he might have to wait awhile.

“I am sure everything inside has to be replaced, and somehow it will be,” he said. “We have a few tough years ahead of us but we will come back.”

While it was too early to put a financial toll on the fire, officials said that some 50 businesses were damaged or destroyed. The area was being treated as a crime scene, which Mr. Christie said was the case after any fire where the cause is unclear.

Mr. Christie first arrived on the scene Thursday night as the fire sent plumes of smoke into the sky, visible for miles, and was immediately struck by the scope of the damage.

“I said to my staff, ‘I feel like I want to throw up,'” he said.

According to eyewitness accounts, the blaze appears to have started at an iconic ice cream shop along the boardwalk and within 15 minutes it was out of control, quickly engulfing businesses along a stretch of beach in two towns.

Flames and black plumes of smoke shot high above the Boardwalk in Seaside Park, where the fire began after 2 p.m. Within hours, strong gusts of wind of 35 miles per hour swept the fire north along the adjoining Boardwalk of Seaside Heights, where a roller coaster had sat mangled in the ocean for months and became a symbol of the storm’s damage.

Funtown Pier, nearly destroyed by the hurricane, collapsed in flames. And nearby, the fire appeared to have ruined a historic carousel that had been painstakingly restored after the storm and reopened just months ago.

Standing in front of emergency vehicles on Thursday night in Seaside Heights, Gov. Christie called the blaze “unthinkable.”

“I can only imagine,” he added, “how the residents and business owners in this town are feeling.”

Johnny Nysether, 24, a local resident whose first job was in a candy store on the Boardwalk, said that the business had “gone up in smoke.”

“Watching it burn is a lot like watching it drown,” he said, comparing the fire to Hurricane Sandy. “I have a lot of friends and family that just lost their jobs.”

Rory Delaney, who co-owned a commercial building on the Boardwalk, said that her building was “gone, it’s rubble.” That building had reopened in mid-July after being damaged during Hurricane Sandy. “We just finished work on the basement last week,” she said.

The fire was a devastating setback to an area that could little afford one as it struggled to get back on its feet nearly a year after Hurricane Sandy. The towns, along a sliver of barrier island, suffered the worst of the storm’s damage.

Mr. Christie toured Seaside Heights the morning after it hit on Oct. 29, and seeing its Log Flume roller coaster and ramshackle sausage and pepper stands washed away, declared “the Jersey Shore of my youth” gone.

He returned in May to tour the amusements along the pier with Prince Harry of Britain, who hailed “the fantastic American spirit” of recovery there.

But with many residents still out of their homes, and many businesses still boarded up, the summer had been far from normal.

The fire apparently began at the Seaside Park location of Kohr’s Frozen Custard, where the candy colored signs proudly boasted of serving the Shore for nearly a century.

The governor and other officials repeatedly declined to speculate on what had caused the fire. But it was fueled by high winds, what Mayor Robert Matthies of Seaside Park called “a combination of the worst elements at one time.”

Its flames quickly spread to a condominium development in Seaside Heights and threatened homes and businesses several blocks inland.

“This is another tremendous wrench in the recovery,” Mr. Matthies told reporters.

Foodrunners at the Sawmill Cafe saw the fire begin at the Kohr’s next door and one grabbed a fire extinguisher to put it out. “But it just moved too fast,” said Michael Popek, a manager at the cafe.

The Sawmill, he said, reopened in spring. “It breaks your heart. Everything along the Boardwalk was closed. We were just happy to be open this summer and have some business. We were struggling all summer.”

The police had closed a significant portion of Route 35, the major artery north from Seaside Park through Seaside Heights and other towns of the popular summer playground. They had also closed one of the bridges connecting it to the mainland.

Firefighters were being treated for smoke inhalation, but officials said early on that it appeared there were no serious injuries.

With the state’s schools reopening by this week, the town’s population had shrunk back to the relatively small number of year-round residents and shoulder-season tourists enjoying a last sultry day of summer.

Many of those left stood behind yellow police tape, watching as firefighters battled the fire, standing in cherry-pickers and pouring water onto rooftops as flames shot up from buildings.

One business owner could be seen dousing his roof with water in an attempt to prevent the fire catching hold.

With its brightly lighted arcades and stalls selling a sugar high, the Boardwalk has been the center of local life, and tourism, for generations. On Thursday evening, residents gathered to mourn it again.

Tessah Melamed recalled working as a teenager in an amusement arcade. “I’d work in the morning then go home and shower and then come back to the Boardwalk and hang out until evening.”

Keith Brown said a friend’s clothing and gift store had just reopened in mid-July; now it is gone. “The fire will have a ripple effect beyond the immediate area,” he said. “Morale was just coming back, and now it’s gone.”


Karen DeMasters, Patrick McGeehan and Ravi Somaiya contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/nyregion/dozens-of-businesses-lost-in-jersey-shore-boardwalk-blaze.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print