A four-alarm fire destroyed the gallery of a historic amusement park on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ on Saturday.
The fire started around 7:40 am in Castaway Cove, Playland, considered the “oldest amusement park in the area”.
It took eight firefighters facing sub-zero temperatures for more than two hours to get under control, according to fire chief Charles Bowman and Fox29.
At one point, the furious flames – which authorities said also damaged the offices of Dairy Queen and the Hamburger Construction Company restaurant – shot through the roof of Playland.
It was not yet clear how the fire started, said Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland.
Hartley said he hasn’t been able to assess the damage yet, but it looked like the historic building that housed the offices and gallery was destroyed.
The building was part of the 1940 World’s Fair in Queens, and was dismantled and rebuilt on the boardwalk in 1941. It housed new and classic games, including an old shooting gallery. “We have to assess what can be recovered and what cannot,” said Hartley.
There were no injuries related to the fire, Bowman said.
Playland’s Castaway Cove has promised to return for the 2021 season, posting a promise on its Facebook page that “it will open sooner or later!”
Hartley said the arcade was scheduled to open in about nine weeks on Palm Sunday.
It is too early to say whether the fire will delay the opening, he said. “We need to rebuild our office in some way, somewhere,” he said. “It will be a difficult task.”
But he said the park “will definitely be open in the spring”.