We will rebuild — again.
That was the message from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday as investigators began searching for a cause in the “suspicious” boardwalk fire in Seaside Park.
Standing a mile or so from the fire-damaged walkway that was wrecked last year by Hurricane Sandy and just recently rebuilt, Christie said it “provided generations of memories for our citizens” and will do so again.
“We will restart the rebuilding as soon as possible,” said Christie. “We are tough and we stand together in a crisis.”
Christie said the cause of the blaze is not yet known. It took hundreds of firefighters to contain and destroyed at least 50 boardwalk businesses.
“You should not read anything into” the fact that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has joined the investigation, Christie said.
Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office, said arson investigators are scouring around for videos or photos they might have shot before or during the fire to help them piece together what happened.
They are also slowly picking through the ruins, looking for signs of an accelerant.
“This is almost like an archeological dig,” he said.
Sources told ABC News that the midday, 10-alarm fire has been deemed “suspicious” because there is so far no obvious cause.
Investigators are also looking into whether faulty repair work is to blame, sources said.
The fire broke out in a Kohr Brothers Frozen Custard stand, a place Christie knows well. He was once caught on camera berating a constituent there who criticized him.
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Christie said the fire was 95% contained, but the smoldering “could continue for days.”
He said the psychic toll on Jersey Shore residents still trying to recover from Sandy is incalculable.
“How much are people going to be able to take?” he asked.
Christie, who famously toured the post-Sandy devastation with President Obama, said the White House has been in touch and he expects to speak with the President about the recovery. Also, he said, Gov. Cuomo has reached out and offered help if needed.
“New Jersey's residents and businesses have been hit hard yet again, and the administration will continue to support the state and local effort as New Jersey recovers and rebuild,” a White House spokesman said.
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat whose congressional district is just north of Seaside Heights, said he would ask federal officials to let the two towns use some of the federal Sandy disaster relief money to rebuild the boardwalk once again.
Bob Martucci, the borough administrator, estimated it would cost about $600,000 to rebuild the boardwalk. He couldn’t put a figure on what it would cost to bring the ruined businesses back to life.
“There’s not much left,” said Brian Gabriel, the county’s fire coordinator. “It looks like a couple of bombs went off. It’s pretty much complete devastation.”
Daniel Shauger, manager of the famed Funtown Arcade, which was reduced to ashes, said he was devastated.
“We just reopened June 1, went through the whole summer trying to stay open, and now this happens,” he said. “We’re wiped out again. It’s just unimaginable.”
Also destroyed was the Beachcomber Bar & Grill, where Snooki got sucker-punched in the first season of the MTV reality show “Jersey Shore.”
Kohr Brothers has been operating at that location since 1919 and in statement signed by Bruce and Nancy Kohr, they lamented their loss.
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“Our hearts are broken,” they said. “Not only did we witness our business being taken from us, right before our eyes, we also witnessed our family’s history go up in smoke. Our hearts go out to all our neighbors, friends, and ‘family’ that had to witness the same. Thankfully, no lives were lost and nobody suffered serious injury.”
Propelled by powerful winds, the fire that erupted in the custard stand at 2:15 p.m. Thursday suddenly began devouring the rest of the boardwalk.
Moving like a hungry animal, the blaze began chewing its way five blocks north to neighboring Seaside Heights.
Thick clouds of black smoke could be seen for miles.
More than 400 firefighters struggled to contain it, drawing water from Barnegat Bay to douse the flames.
They were finally able to stop it after ripping out a 20-foot section of the boardwalk and dumping tons of sand in the gap to create a dune-like firewall.
While the firefighters battled the blaze, residents and business owners still trying to climb off the mat and Sandy’s knockout punch watched helplessly, some of them weeping as their livelihoods went up in flames.
“I got wiped out by the storm, and now it looks like I’m wiped out again,” said Steven Demuro, who owns Bubba’s Dog House on the boardwalk at Porter Ave. “I knew once the boardwalk lit up that everything was going to go. I saw it happen. Helpless. There’s nothing you can really do about it.”
Angela Lombardi, who owns the Angie’s Alley arcade, said the fire skipped her business at first and then the wind changed direction.
“In twenty minutes, the whole section of the boardwalk was on fire,” she said.
Lombardi said she lost all her games, but is determined to be back back in business by next summer.
“In Sandy, we were flooded, but we didn’t lose all our equipment and buildings like this,” she said. “You just got to start over.”
Seaside Heights was the unwilling provider of one of the most iconic images from Sandy — the sight of the Jet Star roller coaster ripped off its pier and rising out of the Atlantic Ocean.
With Rich Schapiro
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