# Seaside Park (Jersey Shore) Is Burning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708 "2013-09-12T21:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/41 "2013-09-13T23:09:05Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Have any people been hurt or killed in this? In post #33 I rreported that there had not yet been any reported injuries, let alone deaths. I haven’t heard anything to change that yet. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/42 "2013-09-13T23:25:24Z")
D’oh; you did say that. Meanwhile, Colorado is getting the water New Jersey needs… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/43 "2013-09-13T23:25:32Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > It was common in the nineteenth century to have fires which destroyed large portions of business districts, for example the Great Chicago fire of 1871. > [Great Chicago Fire - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire) > > But since then cities have mandated fire safety codes which have mostly eliminated such widespread urban fires. > > Was this area negligent in this regard? Wooden Boardwalk being the key. ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/44 "2013-09-13T23:27:06Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > All I can say on this is that if they could do it, I’m sure they would. I don’t profess to know exactly how this works, but if it’s a situation where you need to have a truck very close to the water source in order to pump it along the line, then I can see the issue. The bay has water access very close to the road, whereas to pump from the ocean, you need to pull a truck onto the beach (if my theory is correct). An engine supplied by a pressurized hydrant can pump water for amazing distances through modern 5 inch hose. Very little loss of pressure. Relays of 2 to 3 thousand feet are not at all uncommon in areas with few hydrants. An engine that has to draft (suck) water on its own from a pond, stream, river or ocean can only lift that water about 25 feet on average. So if the pavement is 25 feet higher than the water level, the engine is generally out of luck. With specialized adapters some rural depts can get down to 30 or 40 feet but it’s very unlikely any of these NJ depts where hydrants are common would have had those adapters. Pumping salt water is not a problem. Keeping the seaweed out is! Once the job is done, all hose and pumps are flushed with fresh water to get rid of the corrosive salt. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/45 "2013-09-14T08:27:59Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > D’oh; you did say that. > > Meanwhile, Colorado is getting the water New Jersey needs… It occurs to me that this might come off as snarky. I’m sorry if it did. I’m grateful that there have been no apparent injuries – that’s a mean-looking fire. The same sort of thing happened many years ago in the early 70s in New Jersey when a warehouse ful of nitrocellulose powder\* caught fire in Parlin. It sent a pillar of fire a hundred feet into the sky and turned the night sky orange. People thought they’d dropped an atom bomb on New York City. Miraculously, no one was injured (and that plant ran 24 hours) \*nitrocellulose is the basis of magician’s “flash paper”, modern “smokeless” gunpowder, and solid rocket fuel. It burns rapidly and completely with virtually no residue. When dry there is nothing to retard burning. The thought of a handful of the stuff going off at once is scary. An entire warehouse filled with 70-gallon drums of the stuff defies imagination. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/46 "2013-09-14T12:52:51Z")
In this aerial shot you can see the region of devastation: > **[Two N.J. shore towns reel after latest blow - The Boston Globe](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/09/13/amid-storm-recovery-fire-stuns-shore-towns/odVsBV9o80oI8niNrkHoSI/story.html?s_campaign=email_BG_TodaysHeadline)** > > NEW YORK — Nick Dionisio is a third-generation boardwalk guy, having peeled shrimp as a 7-year-old in his grandfather’s clam bar. Later he decided to go into banking, but when the markets collapsed, he came back to what he knew. He even pulled his... The two things in the sand – the “doubled over” tower and the single thin tower – are the support for a “fiant swing” that swung riders in a sling out over the ocean, and the tower that pulled them back. The reason they survived is that, although they looked as if they were attached to the Boards of the pier, they were actually rotted in a much thicker and firmer concrete foundation that went down into the beach itself. The much taller tower further from the beach is the “Tower of Terror” ride. It, too, looked as if it was set on the beach, but was also rooted in its own concrete foundation, which is why it’s still standing, as well. Over to its right, near the ocean, you can see the remains of a kiddie ride that swung back and forth, evidently also set in firmer foundation than the pier itself. Going out into the surf you can see a few remaining pilings and crossbeams, but most of them have been burnt and swept away or their remains bured in the sand. Before the fire, everything from the asphalt at the bottom to the ocean from this vantage point would be covered by buildings, boardwalk, or pier. The intact buildimng on the lower right would be an arcade. It’s mostly cinder block, which is undoubtedly why it’s so preserved-looking. It might be a total loss inside, though. If it survived that much intact, I suppose it’s possible that some of the sawmill might have, too. Off to the left of the photo is where the enclosed building with the newer of the boardwalk’s carousels was, along with a lot of really old games and attractions (including a retro video game arcade), a shooting gallery, fudge shops, and a restaurant/bar. I’m not sure how much of that survived Sandy, but it seems to be completely gone now. There used to be a big ferris wheel on the pier. You could see it in post-Sandy pictures, looking as if it survived, but you could tell from aerial shots that it was no longer on its foundations, and would have to come down. That iconic sitting-in-the-water rollercoaster was nearby, troo, but it was removed earlier in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/47 "2013-09-14T13:11:56Z")
Was “J Wow’s” bikini collection destroyed?😕 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/48 "2013-09-14T13:15:27Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Was “J Wow’s” bikini collection destroyed?😕 Despite what they were saying on the news, the fire was never anywhere near the Jersey Shore house or the old MYV beach house. If the JS cast left anything behind that wasn’t already appropriated by others, it’s still there. The “swing” ride in the upper right of that photo isn’t a “kiddy” ride. It appears, from other photos, to be the remains of the “Typhoon” swing ride for adults. See photo #13 here: [http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/mc-pictures-seaside-park-boardwalk-fire-20130912,0,423137.photogallery](http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/mc-pictures-seaside-park-boardwalk-fire-20130912,0,423137.photogallery) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/49 "2013-09-14T13:21:15Z")
The Sawmill is still there ! Look at the next-to-last picture here: [http://theinterrobang.com/2013/09/images-from-the-seaside-park-boardwalk-fire/](http://theinterrobang.com/2013/09/images-from-the-seaside-park-boardwalk-fire/) The building next to it, one of Leo’s Acrades, still seems mostly intact, too (although other photos suggest damage to the sides. Sawmill probably has that, too. The local heat probably melted its iconic melodrama villain and damsel in distress sign.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/50 "2013-09-14T13:27:20Z")
The Sawmill’s facebook page acknowledges that , although they suffered siome damage, they’re still there: > **[The Sawmill](https://www.facebook.com/thesawmillcafe)** > > The Sawmill, Seaside Park, New Jersey. 20,356 likes · 253 talking about this · 91,355 were here. Home of the World Famous Jumbo Sawmill Pizza, serving the Jersey Shore since 1977! This page lists the businesses that were destroyed and damaged: > **[Seaside boardwalk fire: Map and list of businesses impacted](https://www.nj.com/news/2013/09/seaside_boardwalk_fire_list_of_businesses_impacted.html)** > > Here's the preliminary list of businesses impacted by the massive fire along the boardwalk in Seaside Park ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/51 "2013-09-14T14:17:51Z")
It makes me sad that so many classic arcade games may be destroyed. They certainly aren’t making any more, and I love me some Wooden arcade games. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/52 "2013-09-14T15:46:07Z")
Maybe the boardwalk should be made of cement next time? They’re lucky that area wasn’t packed full of tourists when it went up in flames. All those wooden walkways are nostalgic, but also very flammable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/53 "2013-09-15T02:24:02Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Maybe the boardwalk should be made of cement next time? They’re lucky that area wasn’t packed full of tourists when it went up in flames. All those wooden walkways are nostalgic, but also very flammable. Cement definitely isn’t going to happen. As I observed upthread, portions of the Boardwalk (at least in Seaside Park) had been replaced with “boards” made of PET plastic (which is much more resistant to deterioration, and which doesn’t support flame, at least at ordinary temperatures). After Sandy, I saw them replacing the PET boards with traditional wood planks. An acquaintance suggests this is because the PET retains heat better, and is a lot less comfortable to walk on than wood. On the other hand a.) As far as I can tell, the fire didn’t extend to the new wooden boards in Seaside Park anyway, and b.) I never saw any PET in Seaside Heights. The new construction there was al wood, too, AFACT. The stuff that burned near FunTown Pier was all wood, much of it pretty old. But I doubt if people wll buck tradition and go to cement when they don’t even like PET. And people think a _BOARD_walk ought to be made of _BOARDS_\* \*Trivia note: According to ads that ran in New Jersey magazines back in the 1970s, I learned that the Boardwalk is apparently not called that because it’s made of boards, but because their use was suggested and supported by Alexander Boardman, a railway conductor in the 1870s who wanted to keep the sand out of his Atlantic City railway coaches. > **[Resources for Family Engagement from the Library of Congress | Library of...](https://www.loc.gov/families/)** > > We invite you and your family to participate in these activities, inspired by the collections, programs, and expertise of the Library of Congress. > **[Atlantic City](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Atlantic_City)** > > Atlantic City is a city on Absecon Island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It is the central location of the Boardwalk Empire book and the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and is occasionally alluded to in the series as... I’m sure that, if true, the “Boardwalk” still ended up with that name because people saw the “Boardwalk” = “made of Boards” logic even in 1870. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/54 "2013-09-15T02:31:48Z")
By the way, Pepper Mill says that she’s seen pictures of The Sawmill on TV today. It may still be standing, but there has been damage. Not surprising, all in all. I’m amazed it’s still standing. I suspect its proximity to the street let fire engines hose it down pretty effectively. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/55 "2013-09-15T02:38:41Z")
> [@Sateryn76](#): > > It makes me sad that so many classic arcade games may be destroyed. They certainly aren’t making any more, and I love me some Wooden arcade games. Well, there are still old video games, pinball machines, and the like at the remaining arcades further up the Boardwalk. But I’ll miss the retro arcade they had in the Carousel building on Funtown, which not only had vintage 1980s games kept in good working condition, but also had older pinball games and really old things like the wooden “Passion Meter” chair that would give you your Passion Reading. Or the fortune-telling gypsy machine, and other such stuff. Here in New England, I can get some of my video game fix at arcades at salisbury and Hampton Beach, or by driving up to Funspot near Weir’s Beach in Laconia NH (300 video games, although not all out and functioning) or Pinball Wizard (200 games) in Pelham NH ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/56 "2013-09-15T21:49:41Z")
Is the city (?) which built the boardwalk out of wood in any way legally liable for the fire damage? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/57 "2013-09-16T23:41:17Z")
Christie says there’s $15 million in aid for Seaside businesses: > [@](#): > > Governor Christie on Saturday said the state would make $15 million available immediately to aid in the recovery, drawn from funds the state received from the federal government in Sandy’s wake last year. “Getting financial assistance to fire-damaged businesses is a critical step to Seaside’s economic recovery, and we’re acting quickly to make that happen,” Christie said. “The entire Seaside community has endured so much over the last year. We’re going to be with them every step of the way to help them get back on their feet and let the world know that the Seaside Boardwalk is open for business.” > > Christie was in Seaside Heights on Saturday not only to survey the damage caused by Thursday’s wind-fueled fire by air, but to also gather with those affected by the fire. > > … > > A press release from the governor’s office said of the initial $15 million in aid, $5 million is earmarked for demolition and debris removal as well as the reconstruction of the damaged boardwalk. > > “It was critical that we move quickly to aid the Seaside business community, which was still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy,” said EDA head Michele Brown in the release. “Extending aid from existing … funding is the most efficient, practical way to get help to the community, which has been dealt a second, terrible blow.” [http://www.northjersey.com/news/15\_million\_in\_fire\_releaf\_on\_its\_way\_to\_Seaside.html](http://www.northjersey.com/news/15_million_in_fire_releaf_on_its_way_to_Seaside.html) There was also this: > [@](#): > > “Something good will come of it, I think,” said Faranda, moments after describing the helplessness he felt as he watched his 20-year business, Shoot The Geek, burn to the ground > His was the last building to catch fire. “Good” said Pepper Mill, when I read her this. The “Shoot the Geek” stand featured a guy dressed up as a villain, parading back and forth in front of patrons who paid for the use of paintball guns. When the stand opened, the villain was Saddam Hussein, but there have been others through the years. It’s the same kind of thing that has been done through the years (In WWII they used to have shooting galleries with cutouts of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo), but I never saw one with live targets before. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/58 "2013-09-17T00:08:20Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Is the city (?) which built the boardwalk out of wood in any way legally liable for the fire damage? You ask odd questions that seem to be complete in ignorance of what a boardwalk is. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708/59 "2013-09-17T19:50:51Z")
nj-boardwalk-fire-linked-sandy-damaged-wiring [http://news.yahoo.com/nj-boardwalk-fire-linked-sandy-damaged-wiring-181935045.html](http://news.yahoo.com/nj-boardwalk-fire-linked-sandy-damaged-wiring-181935045.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seaside-park-jersey-shore-is-burning/668708.md?page=2)