By Charles Layton and Paul Goldfinger
Those of you who’ve read Yvette Blackman’s recent story on the investigation of the Surf Avenue fire probably drew some conclusions. One conclusion might be that too many questions remain unanswered about that fire, and that the county prosecutor’s office and the county fire marshal’s office have done an incomplete job of investigating its cause. Another might be that officials in those offices are embarrassed by their shortcomings in this regard, which would explain why they keep stalling and refusing to comment when faced with simple, reasonable questions.
When an assistant county prosecutor tells a reporter, “We don’t disseminate reports,” and when the county fire marshal won’t even return her call, one can only conclude that the officials consider their investigative findings to be none of the public’s business.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen such disregard of the public’s right to vital information. Those same offices behaved similarly following Ocean Grove’s previous massive fire, the one at the Manchester Inn in March of 2010. For months after that event, Blogfinger made multiple inquiries that went unanswered. Finally, one day, we happened to meet a man from the prosecutor’s office on the street, who was in Ocean Grove on another case, and we asked him about the Manchester investigation. He told us the investigation was finished, and that his office had found nothing suspicious. That was all the people of Ocean Grove ever heard about what caused the Manchester fire. No details. No official written report of any kind.
It turned out, however, that there was something suspicious about the Manchester fire. In September of last year, The Coaster reported that no record existed of a fire inspection at the Manchester in 2009, the year before the fire. The Coaster noted that, by law, such inspections of hotels are required on an annual basis.
The paper also noted that the Manchester had the type of alarm system that automatically places a call to a private alarm company in case of fire. It noted that a private citizen, not the alarm company, had reported the Manchester fire. The implication seemed to be that if the alarm system was not working properly, and if an inspection had been made in 2009, as required, the inspector could have discovered that problem and had it corrected prior to the fire.
If The Coaster’s story was correct, someone may have fouled up very badly, perhaps with tragic consequences.
You’d think this issue would scream to high heaven for further investigation by the fire marshal’s office and county prosecutors. But officials in those offices refused to comment to The Coaster on the lack of a fire inspection record. In the year that has passed since then, they still have said nothing on the subject. We remain in the dark.
It is obvious from recent comments on this website that many people in Ocean Grove have little confidence in the fire investigations conducted by these county offices. So long as public officials keep the facts to themselves, behaving as if they have something to hide, people will naturally be suspicious and distrustful. As they should be.
If the reason for the seeming laxity of these two investigations is that our fire investigators lack sufficient knowledge of fire chemistry and fire dynamics, then the county should upgrade its standards and give its people more professional training. In the meantime, though, either the county or Neptune Township would do well to engage a skilled team of outside, unbiased professionals to conduct independent, thorough investigations of both those major fires. It’s clear that our own officials lack the will — and perhaps also the ability — to do a credible job. But the public needs answers.
To reread Yvette Blackman’s report on the Surf Avenue fire investigation, go here.
Blogfinger has become a vital source of information for us Grovers. I read it regularly and have come to depend upon it for straight talk! Thank you for initiating it and keeping it going!
Sounds fishy.
Carol: Our posting and Yvette’s describe our efforts to communicate with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. PG
Answers come from transparency. As I understand it, both fires were deemed accidental. A faulty furnace and an unattended heater seems more like negligence to me. To find out that the alarm system was not inspected borders on neglect as well, imho.
Perhaps if the Surf Avenue property hadn’t been changed from a hotel to a single family, it would have been required to have a working alarm system in place. We know of another vacant structure without an alarm system, The Park View. How many fires have to happen, how many homes have to be lost before public safety is made a priority?
Certainly, if there is even a suspicion that the fire’s cause was not properly investigated or that the fire inspectors did not inspect the property then we should be able to appeal to the state to provide us with some answers. Has anyone called the county prosecutors office to ask what is going on?
There is the Fire Marshall”s report which apparently sheds no light on the cause of the Surf Ave. fire. The Prosecutor states that there is no report after 6 months of investigation. What are the facts that they did find? What is the reason for some kind of report not to be forthcoming?
Here is the NJ Freedom of Information act, which might be fruitfully used:
http://www.nj.gov/grc/pdf/act.pdf