It's hard to believe that it's been FIVE years since the Seaside Park Boardwalk fire that destroyed what was left of Funtown Pier and all the businesses North to the Seaside Heights border.

The Beachcomber suffered extensive damage, but they rebuilt better than ever.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was a Thursday afternoon on September 12th, 2013 and I was in a meeting with my co-workers around 2:30p, when I got a text message saying that the Seaside Park Boardwalk was on fire.

We all went to the window of the Hawk Studios on the 4th floor and saw huge plumes of black smoke rising up into the sky.

We knew at the moment the boardwalk was going to be in bad shape, no one knew that the entire thing would be destroyed.

It definitely did not help that there were 30 mph winds that day that drove the flames fast up the boardwalk.

Officials ruled the fire as accidental and linked it to electrical wiring under the boardwalk at  Kohr's Ice Cream damaged by Hurricane Sandy's floodwaters.

After all was said and done, approximately 50+ businesses were destroyed, with our Boardwalk Studios at the time barely spared.

So here we are five years later. Re-building is still in progress, but it's coming along nicely. Park Seafood has returned, BYOB Funtown Beach is there, a new Beach Bar owned by the Saw Mill, and plenty of new businesses like Playa Bowl,  Blue Cup Coffee, and more

Check out these pictures and videos from the day of the fire, the day after, and some drone footage shot this Summer from Justin Louis from our sister station at 92.7 WOBM-FM

 

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