Fire takes huge toll on Jersey boardwalk

SEASIDE PARK, N.J. — Two Jersey shore communities that share an iconic boardwalk find themselves having to rebuild it and help scores of businesses pick up the pieces for the second time in less than a year after a massive fire roared along the wooden walkway that had only been rebuilt five months ago following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy.

The blaze that erupted Thursday afternoon and was expected to smolder for days brought a painful sense of deja vu to the communities, which rely on the boardwalk and beach for their very economic survival.

The fire was 95 percent contained by Friday morning, but an investigation into its cause could not kick into high gear until the last of several smoldering hot spots was extinguished, a process that could take days.

“We just reopened June 1, went through the whole summer trying to stay open, and now this happens,” said Daniel Shauger, manager of Funtown Arcade, which was one of 32 Seaside Park boardwalk businesses damaged in the fire. “We’re wiped out again. It’s just unimaginable.”

He said business was down by two-thirds this summer because of the fallout from Sandy, which filled his arcade with water and sand and ruined inventory, game machines and computers.

“It was just enough to survive,” Shauger said. “We were really looking forward to next year. And we’re still looking forward to next year.”

Three police officers leaving the fire scene were injured Friday morning when they fell from an emergency vehicle; two suffered head injuries, and their conditions were not immediately available. Several firefighters suffered minor injuries Thursday.

Seaside Park officials began plans Friday morning to rebuild their part of the boardwalk, at the southern end where the fire began near a frozen custard stand. Bob Martucci, the borough administrator, said it will cost $600,000 to rebuild the borough-owned boardwalk; individual businesses are privately owned and would not be included in that cost, he said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as he did just after the Oct. 29 storm, vowed that the two towns would rebuild.

“I will not permit all the work we’ve done over the last 10 months to be diminished or destroyed by what happened last night,” he said, standing across the street from a still-smoldering pizza shop and a gutted arcade building that he used to patronize with his family. “While we have lost a place that has provided generations of memories to our citizens, we will rebuild. We will make new memories, because that’s what we do.”

Christie said about 30 businesses were destroyed, although authorities in both towns said Thursday night more than 50 businesses had been wrecked, including 32 in Seaside Park and more than 20 in Seaside Heights.

They included pizza shops, wheel-of-chance games, three frozen custard stands and a seafood restaurant whose Facebook page on Friday read simply “R.I.P.” There were french fry stands, a fudge shop, and bar and grills, including one where Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi was punched in the face during the filming of the first season of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” reality show. Another bar wrecked by Sandy had not had the chance to reopen before being engulfed by flames.

A motel burned, as did a crepe restaurant. The Funtown amusement pier was so badly damaged by Sandy it could not reopen this summer. It burned too, its landmark “Funtown Pier” sign collapsing in a hail of flames and sparks Thursday afternoon.

Christie said he suspected most affected businesses would primarily rely on insurance to help them rebuild.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat whose district lies a few miles north of Seaside Heights, said he would ask federal officials to consider letting the two towns use part of the federal Sandy disaster relief money to rebuild the boardwalk again. Failing that, another appropriation from the federal Emergency Management Agency, Community Development Block Grants or Small Business Administration loans should be explored as possible help for affected businesses, he said.

“There’s obviously a pot of money out there,” Pallone said. “If we can use it for this, we should.”

Firefighters were still pouring thousands of gallons of water on the smoldering remnants of the fire Friday. During the height of the fire, they ran hoses to the nearby Barnegat Bay to draw 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of water per minute, in addition to the town’s water supply. They were so desperate for water to dump on the raging flames that they even sucked water from motel swimming pools.

“There’s not much left” in the affected areas, said Brian Gabriel, Ocean County’s fire coordinator. “It looks like a couple of bombs went off. It’s pretty much complete devastation.”

Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, said there was no indication Friday that the fire appeared suspicious, though a cause had not been determined.

It could have been much worse. On Thursday, as the fire pushed northward despite the frantic efforts of firefighters to contain it, Seaside Heights officials tried a Hail Mary: They ripped out a 25-foot swath of the boardwalk they had just finished rebuilding. And they filled the void with giant sand piles — makeshift dunes designed to halt the spread of flames and save the northern portion of the boardwalk.

It worked.

In much the same way as forest fire crews rip out vegetation to deprive an advancing fire of fuel, the boardwalk gambit succeeded in halting the fire’s extension any farther into Seaside Heights.

“That was the decisive moment,” Christie said. “That’s where we put all our resources and decided to make our stand. If we hadn’t, we might have lost it all.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.