Written by Grace Gu ‘16
Staff Writer

Lauren Killan ’17 and Michael Spoltore ’16 are relieved that their families and friends from Seaside Heights and Seaside Park are safe after the large fire there on Sept. 12.

Both students are residents of Seaside Park and were worried about the effects of the raging fire, which destroyed several blocks of the boardwalk and about 68 local businesses. Some of the shops destroyed were loved by many locals and visitors, such as Jack-N-Bills Bar, Maruca’s Tomato Pies, Berkeley Sweet Shop and countless balloons and souvenir stands.

Killan said she is thankful no one she knew was injured in the blaze, but she still has felt the effects of both this accident and Hurricane Sandy from last fall.

“The portion of the boardwalk that was destroyed hasn’t yet been reopened since Sandy,” Killan said. “The rides at the pier are still closed. Towns further north, such as Seaside Heights and Casino Pier, came out unscathed. It’s just a shame how many businesses made it through Sandy and now fell to this. You wonder how much more the people there can take.”

Spoltore agrees that this accident is especially misfortunate because the area had yet to completely recover from Sandy. He and his family were disappointed that so many local businesses could not reopen after Sandy.

“I used to go to the boardwalk all the time with my cousins and friends who lived down there with me,” Spoltore said. “We frequently went to some of the restaurants such as Maruca’s Pizza, which has vowed to return, and the many arcades that were destroyed completely. The fact that many of my younger cousins and the other children of the town might not have these experiences for years is disappointing.”

Although everyone was safe, Spoltore said he has a family friend who owns a photo store who has been affected by both Sandy and the fire. “It was already devastated by Sandy, and now it is heavily damaged a second time since it was very near to the source of the fire,” he said.

Although Superstorm Sandy was devastating for the area, Killian is glad that a portion of the Boardwalk was saved from the fire, ironically, because of the water left over from the destructive storm.

“There is always a bright side to everything,” Killan said. “There were a ton of fire trucks at the end of our street, drawing water from the cove near our house. It was nice to hear that the very same water that had caused so much damage last fall was the same water that helped stop the fire. ”