New Jersey Boardwalk Engulfed in Flames - East Idaho News
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New Jersey Boardwalk Engulfed in Flames

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ABC 091213 NJFire?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1379018755458WABC/ABC News(SEASIDE PARK, N.J.) — A stretch of boardwalk on the Jersey Shore was engulfed in flames Thursday afternoon when a six-alarm fire broke out in Seaside Park, N.J.

The boardwalk is near the same stretch of sand where a rollercoaster landed in the ocean after Superstorm Sandy hit the coastline in October 2012.

The fire began at a Kohr’s frozen custard stand on the boardwalk, according to WABC.

Officials told ABC News that the section of boardwalk that is on fire is the only stretch that was not rebuilt after Sandy. It was part of the old boardwalk that was not destroyed in the storm, they said.

Seaside Park Police Chief Francis Larkin told WABC that the fire has spread four blocks north from where it started and is approaching the area where the boardwalk has been rebuilt.

Workers are hosing down the boardwalk in that area, as well as rides and amusements, to try and keep the fire from spreading, he said.

No injuries have been reported, Larkin said.

There is no immediate word on how the fire started.

Larkin said there were reports of “explosions” heard on the boardwalk that he said could be propane tanks from restaurants on the boardwalk.

Firefighters are setting up equipment to pump water out of the bay on the other side of Seaside Park to help put out the fire, Larkin said.

“After going through Sandy … now there are blocks and blocks of the boardwalk ablaze, with Kohr’s Custard and Three Brothers Pizza, and the historical carousel in Seaside Heights, a block into the Heights, that’s compromised as well, it’s absolutely, absolutely devastating what’s going on right now,” Larkin said. “It’s just disbelief right now.”

Gov. Chris Christie announced that he was cancelling his scheduled events and would travel to Seaside.

Parts of the famed boardwalk — home of MTV’s Jersey Shore and to amusements and restaurants — were destroyed in the storm but quickly rebuilt in order to open by the summer of 2013.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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