SEASIDE HEIGHTS – Eight years ago this month, a fire ravaged the boardwalk that was still in the throes of restoring its facilities from Superstorm Sandy.
The fire occurred on September 12, 2013 and engulfed areas of the boardwalk including the Funtown Pier. It resulted in the destruction of 50 businesses on Seaside Park’s portion of the boardwalk alone.
It began with a report of a fire beneath two of the most famous historic boardwalk businesses in operation, Kohr’s Frozen Custard and Biscayne Candies.
Firefighters had to cope with not only the fast-moving fire but the 30-40 mile per hour winds and tar roofing material. The flames quickly spread to other businesses, including several that had just been rebuilt following Superstorm Sandy’s destruction the previous year.
The popular Funtown Pier amusement park was gone. It marked the dividing point between the two boroughs on the boardwalk.
Firefighters noted the blowing of embers blew several blocks that ignited flames at the Casino Pier as well the Royal Sands Condominium complex at Sumner Avenue and Ocean Terrace. Those fires were extinguished quickly.
A little after 6:30 p.m. Governor Chris Christie arrived at the scene of the six alarm fire which took more than 400 firefighters from various counties in the state plus New Jersey Forest Fire Service and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey crews to combat.
This included one of the state’s three high-powered water cannon systems from Union County. They had been paid for by Homeland Security funds in the event of an attack by terrorists.
The fire was declared under control and extinguished by 7:45 p.m. and there were no injuries reported but three police officers were injured after falling off a Seaside Park Emergency Management truck.
The boardwalk fire caused the closure of all roads into Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, including Route 35. The Mathis and Tunney Bridges were closed into the morning of September 13. The smell of smoke was detected as far as several communities in Monmouth County.
Investigators deemed the giant blaze as accidental on September 17, 2013. The cause was linked to electrical wiring under the boardwalk and subfloor, and equipment they say was impacted by floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy. It occurred due to an electrical malfunction underneath the two boardwalk businesses.
Joseph D. Coronato, who was serving as Ocean County Prosecutor at the time, reported that wiring that existed in a portion of the boardwalk not rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy, had been damaged from sand and salt water.
A month later, the governing bodies of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park hired Eagle Paving Corp. to demolish and clean up the sections affected by the inferno. That work took two months to complete and cost the two towns $4.7 million.
With the charred remains of 68 businesses along four blocks cleared, it was now time to rebuild and recover.
Governor Christie told business owners that $15 million would be provided to local businesses for reconstruction purposes. The damage to the boardwalk was estimated to be around $1.88 million.
Reflecting on that dark period in the borough’s history, Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz recalled, “it was a very bad time in 2013. There is a redevelopment going on particularly in that area. Most of that fire was in Seaside Park but it did affect us north of the boardwalk to Dupont Avenue.”
The mayor said that rebuilding has been done recently. “That was all eight years ago but now with the redevelopment you are seeing new structures you have the new Ocean Club restaurant up there. There are four new kiosks that were opened over the summer so development is there.”
“Seaside Park did their own thing too. They have a beach club. They put in some new stores on Ocean Terrace and a couple of new restaurants. They’ve done quite a bit,” Mayor Vaz added.
Having survived the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, the boardwalk fire and the ongoing pandemic, the mayor said the summer of 2021 was better than last year. “It featured more outdoor dining. “We kept it this year because it was such a great thing to see. To have your meal, your glass of wine and you are watching people walk by and people like to do that.”
Seaside Heights in particular is seeing a lot of changes beyond the boardwalk including the removal of a rusted metal eyesore that was to have been a restaurant nightclub “is completely gone now. The plans for that are heading to the Planning Board for a structure that will be condominiums, retail and parking.”
The Bamboo Bar – a fixture of nightlife in the borough for decades, “is getting knocked down at the end of October,” the mayor added. That will also be replaced with condominiums, retail and parking. “Those are the two big ones we are seeing immediately. We met with the developers who bought the Bamboo building and they are very excited about getting started.”
Another Boulevard-based night club is Karma which has also closed and it is unknown at this time what will become of that facility. Borough officials have been looking to enhance the community’s image to be more of a family-oriented destination point.
While the many nightclubs the borough once had have faded away, the borough is looking to see some fine dining on the Boulevard. “Our atmosphere is not nightclubs. We are restaurant driven that is our focus, restaurants first. That doesn’t mean you can’t have alcohol and you can have dancing but the focus is you have a menu sit down and that provides a different kind of clientele,” Mayor Vaz added.
The mayor said, “there’ll be music, there’ll be dancing, there’ll be drinking – but the clientele changes when you have a restaurant. We’re seeing more families. It has been very positive this summer. The tourists and business owners were very happy with the season and the clientele we’re getting and the activities we are offering.”
The Borough’s hosted a 9/11 ceremony, wine festival, car show and crawling pizza event plus the Hope Sheds Light walk recently. Other Fall events include the Italian Heritage weekend/Columbus Day Parade on the weekend of October 8-10 and a holiday program in December.
