SEASIDE PARK, N.J. (AP) — 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.