911 calls show effort to douse NJ boardwalk fire
Sep 27, 2013, 10:49 AM
SEASIDE PARK, N.J. (AP) – Recordings of 911 calls show citizens frantically tried to extinguish the fire that destroyed more than 50 businesses on a New Jersey boardwalk.
The recordings were obtained by WNBC-TV in New York.
A caller tells a police dispatcher that people have a hose on the fire, but “it’s going from nothing to something.”
Another caller said smoke was rising out of the Seaside Park boardwalk and “everybody’s like trying to throw water on it.”
Dispatchers told callers that firefighters were on the way and warned the callers to stay away from the fire.
Wind-whipped flames spread the blaze along the boards to Seaside Heights on Sept. 12.
Officials blamed the cause on old wiring that had been compromised by saltwater and sand during Superstorm Sandy.
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