Playland fire on Ocean City boardwalk called accidental
The fire at the Playland Castaway Cove on the Ocean City boardwalk was ruled to have started accidentally, according to the preliminary findings.
The fire on the morning of Jan. 30 damaged the offices of the Hamburger Construction Co. restaurant, a Dairy Queen and a BrumeJuice, according to Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland Castaway Cove. Hartley said rides were spared but the park s trademark pirate ship and parrot were also damaged.
The fire started at an undetermined electrical source near the front of the building, according to a statement issued by Ocean City spokesman Doug Bergen. The investigators were able to use a pattern of fire alarms, eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, a detailed excavation of the site and examination of forensic evidence to determine the cause and area of origin for the fire and conclusively rule out other possible causes.
The ATF is one of several agencies investigating weekend fires at the Playland Castaway Cove in Ocean City and a recycling plant in Passaic.
Rides at the park were spared in Saturday morning s fire but the fire damaged the park s huge ship and parrot and three business offices. The fire also tore through Hamburger Construction Co., Dairy Queen and BrumeJuice, according to Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland Castaway Cove.
The ATF s involvement is not unusual for large fires, according to ATF spokesman Dylan Wiggins, who said a team was also deployed to Friday night s fire at the Atlantic Coast Fiber plant in Passaic.
PHILADELPHIA George Flowers was walking to get his first cup of coffee Saturday morning when he looked out of the window of his 14th-floor condo and saw a massive black plume of smoke billowing over the boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J.
“I got onto Facebook Live as soon as I could,” Flowers, 67, said.
We will rebuild, he said.
But Hartley said the fire took a piece of history from Ocean City.
The building that burned had been moved to the boardwalk s 1000 block from its original site at New York s World Fair in 1939-40.
The building was known for an elaborate facade featuring a three-masted ship, a giant pistol-packing pirate and an oversized parrot.
The blaze initially sent bright orange flames high above the boardwalk and black smoke billowing out to sea. As of late Saturday morning, the fire was under control, but firefighters remained on the scene working to fully extinguish the blaze, said Bergen.