Fire rages on Surf Avenue. Friday morning. Photo by John Gallagher of Ocean Grove
FRIDAY, March 11 — Seven houses and an old hotel were destroyed today, and five other houses were damaged in an early-morning fire that apparently started on Surf Avenue and quickly spread to Atlantic Avenue.
Four people were hospitalized with injuries, none serious.
All the destroyed and damaged properties were in the second block from the ocean — between Beach and Central avenues. Police, in a press release, listed the addresses of the buildings destroyed as 27, 31 and 33 Surf Avenue and 24 1/2, 26, 28, 30 and 32 Atlantic Avenue. They said five homes were damaged: 23 1/2, 30, 28 and 35 Surf Avenue and 34 Atlantic Avenue. Five parked vehicles were also damaged, police said.
Steve Mandeville of Ocean Grove, reporting from the scene, said it was his understanding that the fire started in the old hotel at 27 Surf Avenue, which was being converted to condos by developer Hans Kretschman. That uninhabited hotel had been owned, until recently, by Heinz Weck. It had been in poor condition for some time, according to neighbors. People at the fire scene were saying that the fire appeared to have broken out in the basement of that building, but no official cause had been established.
Weck had been living at 28 Atlantic, which he owned and which was destroyed in the fire. Weck told a Red Cross worker that he had lost everything, escaping with only his wallet.
Norman Buckman, who lives at 31 Surf, was taken to the hospital, suffering from smoke inhalation, according to Connie Ogden, who was also at the scene. Buckman’s house was destroyed.
A second resident, Peter Lenihan of 30 Atlantic, also suffered from smoke inhalation, and a fireman sustained a leg injury when a wall collapsed. A second fireman was also reported injured. All of the injured were treated at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
(UPDATE: A neighbor told Blogfinger Saturday morning that both Buckman and Lenihan have been released and are now doing fine. Both of the firemen have also been released.)
Mandeville said the wind was blowing toward Asbury Park during the fire and that firemen were hosing down roofs on the Wesley Grove condos there. Police attributed the fire’s quick spread to wind-driven burning embers.
Mandeville also reported a gas explosion at the scene; he said gas and electricity in the vicinity were shut off.
The Camp Meeting Association opened Grove Hall on Pilgrim Pathway as a center for displaced residents and firemen and relief workers. The Red Cross was using it as a center to interview people in need of housing, food and other services. The Starving Artist restaurant brought in food. The Asbury Park Press quoted Red Cross Regional Director Leo Pratte as saying at least a dozen displaced people might need another place to stay Friday night. Susan Taylor of Ocean Grove said she stopped by Grove Hall to offer help to the people sheltered there and found that “thanks to the leadership there, all was under control and more help [was] rolling in; but we did go home to get men’s/women’s clothing and especially dog food, a leash and a makeshift litter pan and litter for two of the displaced animals.”
Police said the fire was reported shortly before 5:15 AM. Soon thereafter residents of Ocean Grove were awakened by a steady chorus of sirens as fire engines streamed into town. Police said that units responded from Neptune, Neptune City, Bradley Beach, Avon, Allenhurst, Fort Monmouth, Ocean Township and Wall Township, in addition to Ocean Grove.
Neptune Police were asking anyone with information about the fire, including photographs or videos, to contact Police Detective Michael McGhee at 732-988-8000, extension 423. The police are especially interested in hearing from people who witnessed the early stages of the fire.
The fire is under investigation by the Neptune Police, the Neptune Fire Bureau, the Monmouth County Fire Marshall’s office and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office.
This fire was eerily reminiscent of the equally devastating one that broke out almost exactly one year ago on Ocean Pathway. That fire, on March 13, was also a block and a half away from the ocean, and just two blocks south of today’s fire. It also began in an empty hotel at around 5 AM. It destroyed the Manchester Inn and five adjacent homes, and severely damaged two other homes.
Postscript: The Asbury Park Press reports Saturday that officials are saying the cause of the fire was accidental.
— Charles Layton and Mary Walton
We re-posted this 2011 article, and the software brings the comments from then along with it. I like the idea that the old comments are included, since our blog posts are not complete without them.
Why are the dates on these comments from 2011?
it’s a beautiful clear, blue sky morning with a strong wind–thank g+d we didn’t have that wind yesterday or we’d be talking about destruction difficult to comprehend!
but i am still numb…here i am, blocks from the fire, i’ve lost nothing–other than my sense of contentment, early morning hours of sleep, a baking pan i donated for a make-shift litter box–and all i can do is think of the people whose lives were ravaged by the fire and are now displaced!!
for each there are different circumstances, but two categories stand out for me–the two elderly gentlemen-heinz and norm who lost EVERYTHING…EVERYTHING–and the multiple others who were struggling even before the fire, and now have NOTHING!–there but for the grace of g+d goes any one of us….
i will continue to do all that i can to help rebuild these lives as it so enriches mine!
sadly, today we all have too many options from which to choose–ocean grove, haiti, chile, new zealand, and now japan–and don’t get me started on the political injustices in the world that need our support and concern…
let us pray [to whomever or whatever your “force” is] that truly sunny days are ahead for this planet….
“This is why we have taken as aggressive a stance as the law will allow.” Seems to me the law needs to be amended or changed to be more ‘aggressive’. A single property owners rights to neglect, scoff and litigate for years takes precedence over the safety and property rights of everyone else in town? How many homes have to be lost or people and firefighters injured before real action takes place? One is too many isn’t it?
Our firemen and the surrounding community fire companies are the best–thank you for what you do !!!
Chris, eliminating the vacant and poorly maintained structures in town is of the utmost priority to the Township Committee. This is why we have taken as an aggressive a stance as the law will allow — and yes, we know it is not as aggressive as some would like — with the owners of some of these buildings.
Once again, if anyone was there early in the fire and/or took pics, PLEASE call Det. Michael McGhee at 732-988-8000. Anything you saw or took pictures of could be very important to this investigation. Don’t think any detail is too small.
And as to the question of the Manchester, I had just performed a wedding there the week before the fire. There was nothing derelict about the building. It had been full of guests. It was simply vacant the weekend of the fire because the owner had no guests in the off-season and he had left to take care of family business out of state.
Let’s see if I could properly state some facts without drawing the ire of the editors. The National Fire Protection Association conducted a study covering the years 2003-2006. It found 6% of all fires were vacant structure fires, and 43% of those fires were set intentionally (not necessarily by the owners of said structures). 8% of total fires were set intentionally. Vacant structure fires appear far more likely to have been set intentionally than fires in other types of structures. I believe we have had three vacant structure fires in Ocean Grove in recent years, and perhaps someone could inform me if there have been others. It would behoove us to have less vacant structures in our town. Thank you.
I find myself a bit disturbed by the implication in some of these posts that last year’s fire was caused by neglect at the Manchester Inn. The Inn was most certainly not a derelict building run by people who were “sitting on their hands” while their building went to rack and ruin – in fact if I remember rightly the Inn’s owners had hosted an Ocean Grove beautification event shortly before the fire. My husband was lucky enough to have stayed at the Inn on a number of occasions. He was wildly enthusiastic about it, and so one of my very selfish regrets about that fire was that I never got the chance to join him there for a couple of nights as we had planned! I know less about the property involved in this fire, but I do know that these fires are a terrible tragedy, and one that should not be exacerbated by unsubstantiated accusations.
I am uncertain of the status of the vacant hotel prior to the fire; that is, I do not know how long it had been vacant, and I do not know how much physical work had been done to the site to convert it to condos. With that said, I find it infuriating that we have had two of these massively destructive fires in only two years. The fact that we have to put up with the owners of these properties sitting on their hands for years at a time is ridiculous. As we have read in prior posts on this site, the same can be said for some residential structures in the town… How many times does this have to happen in our town before we find a way to effectively deal with the people who are putting ALL OF US at risk?
Jim and I awoke @ 5:21 to a faint siren and looked out our third floor bedroom windows to what seemed like another NIGHTMARE— raging flames above the roof tops off Central, clearly at the Pathway or beyond…
In the midst of my tears and numbness I quickly began calling everyone I knew was in town. I would encourage everyone to establish an “alert calling tree” for such situations. Home owners should be alerted to prep their houses should we have embers flying.
Once on the scene we I thanked EVERY first responder we saw….pls. always do that….especially as so many are volunteers coming from neighboring communities.
We stopped by Grove Hall and offered our help. Thanks to the leadership there, all was under control with more help rolling in; but we did go home to get men/women’s clothing and especially dog food, a leash and a make-shift litter pan and litter for the two of the displaced animals.
Our town and community remain in our prayers….with special prayers for the affected families….Susan Taylor