Fire ravages New Jersey boardwalk

A fire engulfed several blocks of boardwalk and businesses on Thursday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, a shore town that was still rebuilding from damage caused by Superstorm Sandy.

According to Reuters: "A late-night rainstorm brought relief to some 400 firefighters struggling to contain a fast-moving fire on Friday, which ravaged blocks of boardwalk and businesses along the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park still rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy."

The Reuters report continues:

Part of the boardwalk was torn up and a 20-foot trench dug to keep flames from spreading through the close-packed buildings.

Firefighters, using a 50-foot extension ladder, poured a stream of water into a blazing pizza restaurant as flashers and spotlights from dozens of fire trucks lit up the pillar of smoke rising from the town.

Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency and said at a televised news conference that about 20 businesses had been affected.

The cause of the fire was unknown, and there were some minor injuries, he said.

Seaside Park is less than 2 miles from the carnival rides and better-known boardwalk of Seaside Heights, where MTV's reality show Jersey Shore is filmed. Seaside Heights' partly submerged Jet Star roller coaster became one of the most famous images of the damage from the giant storm.

Sandy, the second-costliest storm in U.S. history after Hurricane Katrina, devastated the New Jersey coast and damaged its tourism industry. A federal relief program for damage from Sandy has topped $60 billion, with New Jersey's damage estimated at $37 billion.

Sandy took a heavy toll on Seaside Park, a town of about 2,200 people, destroying about 150 feet of its boardwalk and its Funtown Pier.

A second pier was reduced to twisted wreckage.

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