Seaside Boardwalk burns down

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

My friend just called and told me the Seaside Heights boardwalk, which was just rebuilt, has burned and is still burning.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-5760...-by-sandy/

[Rhubarb]

0

Is this near you?

The area Mark wanted to book the hotel?

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Is this near you?

The area Mark wanted to book the hotel?

Yep. All gone. All of it. Any beach side / boardwalk activities are shot to hell for the next few years. We can still go out for garlic crabs if you want. That restaurant is well far enough away from the fire.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Just saw the latest images live. There's nothing left for 4 blocks. 70 trucks to put out the blaze and they had to pump water from the ocean.
Matt knows so many of these business owners personally and has done so much work for them. So sad.

Governor Christie said they are not going to speculate on the cause but I dunno, LK can answer this one, I saw pink flames in one of the hotter areas. Doesn't that indicate either electrical or chemical?



It's really creepy to see the Funtown Pier sign sitting unscathed on top of the ashes, literally ashes, of the same building.
The aerial view of this hasn't been put up yet, but when it does I'll post it.

Yesterday afternoon - you can see the range it hit.

[AnthonyG]

0

When I was watching the news yesterday earlier on when it started, it happened around kohr's custard shop, and witnesses that saw the fire in its infancy were saying it was under the boardwalk. It which makes sense on its ability to spread so fast because if it was by the decking itself it would be like a giant wooden match with the crazy winds throwing the embers everywhere. They also stated people actually got to the ignition spot in the beginning and had fire extinguishers on it and such but the wind killed their efforts. I don't know the fire codes and requirements in seaside but I know commercially in area's where my businesses are if the fire started inside one of the buildings its chances of being stopped would have been so much higher. Based on the spread and the witnesses accounts its fitting to have been something under the boardwalk.

The odd color flames and smoke can be electrical and or chemical but it would be from the products inside the businesses catching fire after the fact, powdered sugar if caught in that wind probably made some crazy flames.

[Rhubarb]

0

Sugar, flour all of these ignite wonderfully.

Look at how the Fire of London started, in a bakers oven.
One of my father-in-laws party tricks using kitchen ingredients to blow the garden up

This is so sad- for all those people who live and work there.

Crabs? Lobster, fish yep-
All molluscs are off the menu though ( scallops are ok)

[LKTraz]

0

Pink flames can indicate wiring insulation common in BX type wiring which is very common in commercial buildings. BX is the wiring which has the flexible metal covering and is used where running conduit is not practical.

Certain syrups can also produce pink tinted flames if they have an alcohol base. The color comes from the dyes.

From what I saw the wind was the major factor in the spread. Couple that with the "oven effect" once it got under the boardwalk and the fire escalated to conflagration status. The best strategy to use in fighting a conflagration is just what they did which is.......back off, make a fire break, surround and drown and protect undamaged exposures.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

You know, I'm going to ask my friend if it is code for the boardwalks to use BX instead of Romex. I think it might be because in some special circumstances where fire would be more disastrous than other places they make you use BX here. Normally it's all Romex.

The fire started under the boardwalk under Khor's custard shop. Goddamn news is now spreading rumors that this was deliberate. Matt knows these people personally and they would not have done such a thing.

It is normal here to run wires under the boardwalk too. Stupid, but sometimes it's the only way. You know, I think they even have circumstances where they would make you use metal conduit pipe for the romex and / or metal conduit for bx cables as well. Plastic conduit is normally used but I've seen that shit get hot and melt.

The wind was real whippy that day too. As you can see from the aerial shot above it's running straight up north.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

Got to see the fire damage last night. You could still smell the burned wood for blocks. I tried a couple of pictures but they just don't look as severe as it truly is. We'll be down that way next week with Mark and Trudi so I'll see about images then.

[Twitchin Kitten]

0

They did deem the cause accidental and due to faulty wiring that is in place since the '70's. These wires were flooded by the storm and never replaced.

IMO the township for allowing the wires to remain and JCP&L are at fault here. Residential areas were without power for months here because of the wiring damage. 90% were told it's because wires came in contact with salt water and needed changing. So what makes under a very flammable boardwalk any different?

As you can see the section that caused it wasn't even in pipe.