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| Firefighters battle a blaze in a building on the Seaside Park boardwalk on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, in Seaside Park, N.J. The fire began in a frozen custard stand on the Seaside Park section of the boardwalk and quickly spread north into neighboring Seaside Heights. |
SEASIDE PARK,
N.J. (AP) -- Continuing hot spots could hamper investigators trying
to figure out the cause of a fire that charred four blocks of bars,
pizza shops and T-shirt stands - perhaps 50 businesses in all - on a
Jersey shore boardwalk that still was trying to recover from Superstorm
Sandy.
The initial problem is spots where
flames could keep flaring up among the rubble from the blaze that shot
fireballs 50 feet into the sky Thursday night before crews got it
contained.
In a news briefing Friday, Gov.
Chris Christie said it would be "irresponsible for any of us to
speculate" what sparked the fire that is believed to have started in or
near a frozen custard stand.
He said the
firefighters working on spraying down any flare-ups are also doing their
best to preserve evidence for the fire investigation team that's trying
to piece together just what happened.
In the meantime, plans to rebuild again already are in the works.
Bob
Martucci, the borough administrator in Seaside Park, said it will cost
$600,000 to rebuild the borough-owned boardwalk that was burned in his
town. That would cover just the stretch of boardwalk itself, not the
businesses that were ruined.
Christie said
Friday that government grants or loans could be made available to
businesses to cover costs that insurance will not cover.
"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 Friday as
he stood across the street from a still-smoldering pizza shop and a
gutted arcade that he used to patronize with his family.
U.S.
Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat whose district is just a few miles from
the boardwalk, said he would ask if federal money sent to towns to
rebuild after Sandy could be used to help.
The
boardwalk itself, battered by Sandy last October, was rebuilt five
months ago. One of the big attractions in the stretch - the Funtown
amusement pier - had not reopened after Sandy. It burned in the fire,
with its landmark "Funtown Pier" sign collapsing in a cloud of flames
and sparks, falling on the gray charred remains of a once colorful
attraction.
Among the businesses destroyed
were a fudge shop, fry stands and a bar and grill where Nicole "Snooki"
Polizzi was punched in the face during filming of the first season of
MTV's "Jersey Shore."
Paul Schneider, who owns
three small boardwalk stands, had to rip out damaged electrical wiring
and replace sodden merchandise after Sandy.
"Everything's gone. I can't believe this is happening again," he said.
