Update 9:30 am EST, 9/13/13: Some 18 hours after the boardwalk fire started, three fire trucks continue to dump water onto the charred remains of several businesses. The cause of the fire, which devastated a community that had been hard hit by Superstorm Sandy last year, is undetermined (http://bit.ly/19OAMIG).
Update 9 pm EST Workers raced to contain the fires’s advance by ripping up stretches of walkway only recently replaced in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, reports ABC News (http://abcn.ws/160k8S8). Heavy equipment filled the breach with tall walls of sand to form makeshift dunes.
New Jersey 12 reports (http://bit.ly/15VUhS5) that several firefighters and nearby residents were being treated for smoke inhalation, but no serious injuries have been reported.
Update 8 pm EST Governor Chris Christie held a media briefing (http://cbsloc.al/1eIznHf) at 7 p.m. and said 400 firefighters, 35 engine companies and 15 ladder companies and a number of special services units were on scene battling the blaze. The fire spread quickly due to the winds gusting at 30-40 mph.
The Newark Star-Ledger (http://bit.ly/18Uy5nJ) reports that the fire has spread to about 20 buildings. Evacuation s are being ordered for more than six blocks to the nort, officials have said.
Original Story: A severe fire in an ice cream stand on the Seaside (NJ) boardwalk today has extended to at least two other structures.
The fire that began at Kohr’s Ice Cream near the boardwalk was swept up by a strong southeast wind and jumped to adjacent structures around 2:30 p.m., according to a report on NJ.com (http://bit.ly/17ZG4zQ). Several firefighters and residents were being treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
The popular boardwalk on the Jersey Shore was severely damaged last year during Hurricane Sandy.
For more, go to http://bit.ly/17ZG4zQ.
For more on Hurricane Sandy response, consider Superstorm Sandy: New Jersey’s US&R Response, Jersey Shore Ops, and Statewide Mutual-Aid Deployment to Toms River.
HT Jersey Shore Hurricane News for the video.
