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Posts Tagged ‘Ocean Grove Fires’

UPDATE: More Non-answers About the Surf Avenue Fire — Investigator Can’t Say Whether Heater Was Left On

Posted in Blogfinger News, Charles Layton, Ocean Grove fire 3/11/11, Ocean Grove fire March 11, Ocean Grove news, tagged , on November 3, 2011| 6 Comments »

By Charles Layton

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, it seems, is still not telling all it knows about the March 11 fire that destroyed a former hotel and six homes on Surf and Atlantic avenues in Ocean Grove.

We reported last week that the fire may have been caused by a gas heater in the old hotel’s basement. (Go here to reread that story.)

We also reported on the refusal of officials in the county fire marshal’s office and the county prosecutor’s office to tell the public what they know about the investigation of that fire. (Go here for our editorial on that.)

A central question is whether the gas heater, which was used to provide heat for construction workers at the site, might have been left burning and unattended the night before the fire. (The fire was reported at 5:11 on the following morning.)

On Thursday, in a telephone interview, Assistant County Prosecutor Chris Decker told us that the evidence “did not enable the investigators to determine with certainty whether the heater was left on.”

Asked if investigators had asked the construction workers at the site whether the heater was left burning, Decker said the workers had indeed been interviewed. However, he said, “I can’t get into what individual people said.”

When asked whether a night watchman or guard had been present at any time during the night, he said, “The scene was left secured the night before. My understanding is the area was locked. That’s all I can say, I don’t know any more.”

He did not provide answers when asked about the type of heater and whether it was in good working condition.

He said his office had conducted “a thorough, thorough, exhaustive investigation” and that “based upon the investigation and evidence, there is no evidence supporting criminal charges.”

Asked whether, regardless of the issue of criminality, county officials would consent to provide the people of Ocean Grove with a complete account, in writing, of their investigative findings about the fire’s cause, Decker did not offer much hope.

“I’ve released all I can release,” he finally said.

On another front, Blogfinger reporter Yvette Blackman placed a call to County Fire Marshal Henry A. Stryker, III on Wednesday of last week, seeking information about his office’s investigation of the fire. She still has not heard back from Stryker.

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EDITORIAL: Our Fire Investigators Have Let Us Down

Posted in Blogfinger News, Editorial, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , , on October 30, 2011| 7 Comments »

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.

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Evidence Cites Gas Heater As Possible Cause of Surf Fire. Questions Remain. Was Heater Left Burning Overnight?

Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove news, Surf AVenue Fire, Surf Avenue fire. March 11, tagged , on October 26, 2011| 9 Comments »

Surf Avenue, March 11. Photo by John Gallagher

By Yvette Blackman, Contributing Writer @Blogfinger

The fire that started in a former hotel and spread to numerous homes on Surf and Atlantic avenues last March may have been caused by a gas heater in the hotel’s basement, according to a report obtained by Blogfinger but never made public by fire investigators.

In the days leading up to the fire, this report explains, construction crews were working to convert the run-down hotel at 27 Surf Avenue and an adjacent cottage at 25 Surf Avenue into a nine-unit condominium complex. The interior of the four-story hotel had been demolished, stairs were removed, and workers had begun framing the walls and floors.

The report, which was prepared by the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s office, says: “Heat for the structure was a gas fired hot air heater installed in the basement to provide heat for the construction workers.”

The report does not mention the possibility that the heater could have been left burning and unattended after the workers had departed for the day on Thursday, March 10. Police said the fire was reported at 5:11 a.m. on Friday, March 11 – before the next workday had begun.

“The area in and around the placement of the heating unit showed the heaviest charring” on what remained of the framed walls and floor following the fire, the report says.

The report, which is undated, is signed by Deputy Fire Marshal Vito Marra. It was provided to Blogfinger by a homeowner who obtained a copy of it in August, under a cover letter signed by County Fire Marshal Henry A. Stryker, III.

Although this report is the most specific account yet brought to light, it raises as many questions as it answers. It says nothing about the working condition of the heater prior to the fire. And it does not say whether investigators interviewed the workmen or pursued other leads to determine whether the heater had been left burning.

A call on Wednesday seeking comment from Stryker was not returned.

Very few people seem to have seen this report. David Shotwell Jr., spokesman for the Ocean Grove Fire Department, was reluctant to even discuss it with Blogfinger. “We have not seen any report nor have we been informed of this by the prosecutor’s office,” Shotwell said.

Ever since the day after the fire, county officials have been saying they thought its cause was accidental rather than criminal. Assistant County Prosecutor Chris Decker told Blogfinger last Friday, “The fire was ruled accidental.” However, despite repeated requests for definitive information about the investigation, almost no details have been shared with the press or the general public, either by the prosecutor’s office, the fire marshal’s office or any other official source.

“We don’t distribute reports,” Decker said. Asked to explain the long delay in sharing his office’s findings with the public, he said, “I had to wait for our reports to be finalized … for our case to be closed, so to speak, before I could actually disseminate the information. But we don’t disseminate reports.”

Decker also said: “We’re not able to determine with complete certainty the origin of the fire.”

As early as the morning of the fire, witnesses were telling Blogfinger that it had started in the basement of the old Surf Avenue hotel. No one has disputed that.

The old hotel and the adjacent cottage were once owned by Heinz Weck. Developer Hans Kretschman purchased the properties from Weck on December 2, 2010, but the report incorrectly names Weck as the owner. A month after the purchase, the Historic Preservation Commission approved Kretschman’s plans to build a condominium complex there. That work was underway when the fire occurred.

The fire spread to and destroyed homes at 31 and 33 Surf. Four neighboring homes on Atlantic Avenue – 26, 28, 30 and 32 – suffered severe damage and were either demolished or deemed uninhabitable. Six homes on the two streets sustained minor to moderate damage, as did five vehicles.

No one died in the fire, but it rekindled a fear that had surfaced after the 2010 Ocean Pathway fire that wiped out five homes and the historic Manchester Inn. That fire occurred almost exactly one year before the Surf Avenue fire. Fire officials determined that it was accidental and that it started in a basement — at the Manchester Inn.

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Zoning Dispute Over the Manchester Inn Property — Decision Could Come This Week

Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove fire March 11, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , on July 31, 2011| 16 Comments »

NOTE: This story was updated on Monday to include comments from the property owner, Hans Kretschman.

By Charles Layton

This week, the Zoning Board of Adjustment is to consider — and probably vote on — the controversial question of what size houses should be built on the site of the late Manchester Inn.

The Manchester, as everyone knows, was destroyed by fire in March of 2010 along with five adjacent houses. At the time, local developer Hans Kretschman had an agreement to buy the place and convert it from a hotel/restaurant into a 14-unit condominium facility. But after the fire, the property’s zoning status reverted to single-family, so it was back to the drawing board.

Now, Kretschman proposes to build two single-family houses on the portion of the Manchester property that faces Ocean Pathway. (The Manchester also included a rear lot facing Bath Avenue.) However, Kretschman’s plan requires zoning variances because it violates the existing standards regarding height and the number of stories permitted, and because it would encroach into Ocean Pathway’s flared setback area. (The “flared setback,” which widens toward the ocean from Central Avenue to Ocean Avenue, is one of the unique original features of Ocean Grove’s town plan. Preservationists consider it sacrosanct.)

The Zoning Board began hearing Kretschman’s case on July 20 and is scheduled to continue the hearing on Wednesday. At the July 20 hearing, Kretschman’s attorney, Jennifer Krimko, called two architects to testify in favor of his building plans. One, Michael Calafati, a specialist in historic buildings, used old photographs in support of the argument that Kretschman’s plans were actually consonant with the architectural heritage along that particular street. Calafati said the plans were intended to reconstruct two buildings that had stood on the site at the turn of the century, which was before the Manchester existed and before Ocean Grove became a national historic district.

Krimko told the Board that she also intends to call a planner who will testify that Kretschman’s plans would preserve the architectural integrity of the area better than if he were forced to follow present zoning rules.

Several Grovers raised questions during the public portion of the hearing. Madeline Tugentman of 31 Ocean Pathway asked why Kretschman could not conform to the flared setback. She and her husband, Steven, lost their home in the Manchester fire, and when they rebuilt, she said, “we followed the rules.” Norm Goldman told the board, “This proposal is not in concert with the appearance of that entire block,” meaning that the two proposed houses would have one story more than others on that side of the street.

Another architect, Joseph Walker, testified that there was historic precedent for taller buildings on the opposite (south) side of Ocean Pathway. He cited five buildings that were destroyed by fire in 1977. “All those buildings were at least four stories — four or five stories,” Walker said.

The properties in question — two adjacent lots — are zoned for 2 1/2 stories and with a height limitation of 35 feet. Both of Kretschman’s proposed houses would have 3 1/2 stories. The one at 27 Ocean Pathway would be 38 feet 4 inches high; the other one, at 25 Ocean Pathway, would be 35 feet 11 1/2 inches high.

Earlier this year the Zoning Board rejected a proposal by Marc and Deb Marini for similar variances on their property next door to Kretschman’s lots. After losing their home at 23 Ocean Pathway in last year’s fire, the Marinis had also sought to rebuild to 3 1/2 stories. They expressed sharp disappointment when the Board refused their request for a variance.

Kretschman and his company, PH Distinctive Properties, have emerged as major players in Ocean Grove real estate in recent years. He purchased the Laingdon Hotel at 8 Ocean Avenue in 2001 and converted it to a luxury hotel. He purchased the Silver Sands Hotel at 6 Ocean in 2003 and made it his private residence. And he had just purchased the uninhabited old hotel at 27 Surf Avenue and was in the process of converting it to condos when it burned down in March of this year along with seven adjacent homes.

In an interview on Monday, Kretschman said he saw “a huge difference” between his application for variances and “other new home applications that were recently presented to the Zoning Board. We are reconstructing the images of two historic buildings that stood on that site at the turn of the century, which are within the Ocean Grove historic district’s period of significance.”

Kretschman said the structure that became the Manchester Inn had incorporated those two original separate buildings. “What we’re doing is putting back what was there over 100 years ago,” he said. The evidence for what was originally on the site  includes hundreds of photos of the interior and exterior, he said.

As to encroaching into the flared setback area, he said, “We hope to have that resolved on Wednesday.” He did not elaborate except to say that the original buildings that had stood on the site had also encroached into the setback area.

25 and 27 Ocean Pathway, looking northwest. Photo by Charles Layton

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Neighbors Feared Surf Avenue Hotel Was a Fire Hazard. They Tried Last Year to Get the Township to Investigate

Posted in Neptune Township News, Ocean Grove news, tagged on March 12, 2011| 5 Comments »

Remains of 27 Surf Avenue. Photo by Ted Aanensen

By Charles Layton

SATURDAY, March 12 — For at least a year prior to Friday’s fire, the people who lived near the decrepit old hotel at 27 Surf Avenue feared the worst. They said they were terrified that a fire would break out there.

They organized, they tried to get Neptune Township to inspect the place, and they took their concerns to the local press. But nothing they did made any difference.

On Friday, their worst nightmare became reality when a fire destroyed the hotel and seven adjacent houses and damaged five other homes.

I spoke with one of those neighbors Saturday morning — the Rev. John Fitzpatrick — while he was standing outside the burned-out rental home he owns at 30 Atlantic Avenue. I asked him why, in spite of the neighbors’ very vocal concerns, nothing was done last year to correct conditions at the old hotel.

“I understand that the town came to inspect,” he told me, “and Heinz Weck [the hotel’s owner at the time] wouldn’t let them in the door.” (Attempts to reach Weck for comment were unsuccessful.)

Important point: It is not established yet what caused Friday’s fire, or even that it started in the hotel. In fact, at the time of the fire Weck no longer owned the place, and work was underway to convert it to condos. Still, witnesses told our reporter, Steve Mandeville, that the fire appeared to have broken out in the hotel’s basement.

On September 14 of last year, reporter Michelle Gladden of the Asbury Park Press published an excellent account of the neighbors’ concerns along with the responses of the owner, Mr. Weck, and of a township official. Below, reproduced in full, is that story. As you read it, you might keep in mind the cruelly ironic fact that four of the people quoted — Ms. Morrell, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Buckman and Mr. Weck — have now lost their houses.

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Residents living in the vicinity of the shuttered Surf Avenue Hotel in this historic community say they are worried the building has become a safety hazard.

With homes, bed-and-breakfast inns and hotels spaced less than 2 feet apart along narrow roadways, the 141-year-old community is known for its Victorian architecture and Christian camp meeting community.

But building trends have shifted from hotels for summer visitors to condo-style living, and neighbors are worried about a years-long delay in plans to replace the 44-foot high Surf Avenue Hotel with an 11-unit condominium complex.

“Derelict buildings like this fall through the cracks,” neighbor Gail Morrell of Surf Avenue said. “These vagrant behemoths are not being monitored, and in a little town like this when you are this close to neighbors, it’s very scary.”

Morrell and a group of other residents of Surf and Atlantic avenues say a fearful precedent has been set by recent blazes like the March 13 Ocean Pathway fire, which quickly destroyed more than half a block of homes and the historic Manchester Inn. That hotel also had been proposed for conversion to condominium units.

“This is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall,” Morrell said. “We just want someone to declare that it is safe.”

A zoning loophole that now classifies the hotel as a single-family home leaves critics without peace of mind.

“I have to tell you, I’m scared to death,” Surf Avenue resident Norman Buckman said. “At the foot of my bed I now have a list of things to grab and a suitcase with clean laundry.”

But land use administrator Bernard Haney said the residents have nothing to fear.

“The applicant is working to finalize the process of meeting the resolution requirements,” Haney said, “and at that point they can begin working on the building, and all their fears of the fire hazard will be gone.”

Property owner Heinz Weck, who lives at the site, said the property is safe and had approval by the municipality’s Board of Architectural Review when the condo project won approval before the local Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2006.

“I am in full compliance of the law,” said Weck, a 34-year resident. “I have a smoke-detecting system in the building. I wouldn’t live in a place when I am not safe.”

But the Rev. John E. Fitzpatrick, whose home on Atlantic Avenue abuts the rear of the Surf Avenue Hotel property, said his tenants were sickened by mold growing on the exterior of the hotel and said debris has fallen from its facade.

“Bricks and plate glass from the windows would fall into my yard,” Fitzpatrick said.

Haney said the project was stalled by a Superior Court suit and subsequent appellate challenge to a proposed 16,967-square-foot 11-unit condominium slated to be built on the 7,035-square-foot property. In both cases, the municipality’s approval of the project was upheld, Haney said.

“In the normal course of action, if you have an approval in 2006, in 2008 it would have been well on its way,” Haney said. “The only reason it’s sitting the way it is, is because it was challenged in Superior Court.”

As for the property not being inspected in the past 15 years, Haney said the municipality does not have jurisdiction to do so.

“Fire inspections are done by the Division of Community Affairs on commercial properties only,” Haney said. “In 1995/96, the property owner went to the Division of Community Affairs to list the property as nonoperating hotel. When a property becomes a single-family home, there are no more inspections. It’s no different than any other single-family home, only that it’s big.”

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