Fire brings new misery to NJ boardwalk

Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency Thursday as a fast-moving fire burned through blocks of boardwalk and businesses in the New Jersey beach towns of Seaside Park and Seaside Heights, still rebuilding from Hurricane Sandy.

Christie said Friday morning that the fire was 95 percent contained but that many parts of the scorched boardwalk would keep smoldering for days. Firefighters continued to pour water onto the charred husks of shops and attractions.

Christie added that state grants and loans could be made available to help businesses with recovery costs not covered by insurance.

"We're lucky it didn't happen in August," Bob Martucci, the Seaside Park Borough Administrator, told The New Jersey Star-Ledger. "On a weekend there could have been 50,000 people here."

The fire, which started near an iconic frozen custard shop, spread to destroy 32 businesses and cause millions of dollars in damage. There was no word on any serious injuries.

Christie said, on his first reaction to seeing the damage, "I feel like I want to throw up."

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Authorities said there was no immediate indication whether the fire was suspicious or accidental.

"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."

The wind-whipped fire devoured eight blocks before workers halted its advance by ripping out a large section of boardwalk and building large makeshift sand dunes to hold back the flames.

Seaside Park Town Administrator Robert Martucci told CNN the fire started around 2:15 p.m. EDT and then raced north under winds of up to 40 m.p.h.

A late-night rainstorm brought relief to some 400 firefighters struggling to contain the blaze.

"This fire did what Sandy could not do and that is to completely destroy these buildings and boardwalk." said Arthur Kelly, the founder and director of Rebuild Seaside, a Sandy relief charity. 

"The owner of Funtown pier was previously committed to rebuilding, but it will be interesting to see if that is still their sentiment following this tragic event."

"We may perhaps see some oceanfront condos go up in their place," Kelly added, saying the fire destroyed a carousel built in the early 20th century businesses that had stood since the boardwalk's beginning. 

Seaside Park is less than 2 miles from the carnival rides and better-known boardwalk of Seaside Heights, where MTV's reality show "Jersey Shore" was recorded. In 2012, Seaside Heights' partly submerged Jet Star roller coaster became one of the most famous images of the damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Sandy, the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, after Hurricane Katrina, devastated the New Jersey coast and damaged its tourism industry. A federal relief program's allocations for damage from Sandy have topped $60 billion, with New Jersey's damage estimated at $37 billion.

Sandy took a heavy toll on Seaside Park, a town of some 2,200 people, destroying about 150 feet of its boardwalk and its Funtown Pier. A second pier was reduced to twisted wreckage.

The fire "just puts us back in the hole again after Sandy," Don Slonaker, 54, a nuclear power plant worker who watched the fire from its start, told Reuters.

Seaside Park Borough Councilwoman Nancy Koury said local business owners worked hard to recover from Sandy's devastation and "now it's all gone."

Christie said water infrastructure was still being repaired from Sandy damage and firefighters were forced to run hoses from nearby Barnegat Bay.

Seaside Heights rushed to reconstruct its boardwalk in time for a May visit by Britain's Prince Harry. It finished with only hours to spare.

Wilson Dizard contributed reporting with Al Jazeera and wire services