Fire/Rescue News - Another fire at Atlantic City's Central Pier reveals body beneath Boardwalk
By EMILY PREVITI Staff Writer | Posted: Saturday, December 5, 2009 | 1 comment
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ATLANTIC CITY — The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the death of a man whose decayed body was found Saturday evening beneath Schiff's Central Pier by officials who were there fighting a fire.....Continue Reading
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The decomposition prevented authorities from immediately determining the age or race of the dead man, according to Atlantic City Fire Chief Dennis Brooks.
An autopsy will be conducted today, according to a statement from the county Prosecutor’s Office.
Someone called police at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday to report a body under the pier. Officers searched the area, but did not find anything, according to Atlantic City Police Sgt. Jim Brennan.
Two hours later, a fire was reported by another man whom police later questioned, Brennan said.
Firefighers came upon the body almost immediately, Brooks said.
It took firefighters more than an hour to get to the second of the two small trash fires because they had to dig through debris so dense in some parts that they had to crawl.
The smoke, trash piles, and water and electrical lines made for extremely poor visibility, he said.
“It’s pretty tight under that pier,” Brooks said. “Once we actually located where the fire was, we had to dig ... to get in there to fight the fire.”
In an effort to keep warm, people living under the structure typically accumulate trash, which the pier’s owners last cleared out during the summer.
Brooks said people staying under Central Pier also likely set the fires as defense against the snow, sleet, wind as strong as 25 mph and temperatures that dropped below freezing overnight.
“It’s like an ongoing thing, you clean it up and guys are back under there,” Brooks said. “They totally isolate themselves from the wind and the cold and everything else. They make, like, a catacomb under there.”
Fire Capt. Mike Ruley, Capt. Matthew Deibert and Firefighter Jack Rush also had to navigate the debris to rescue another man whom paramedics drove to the hospital for treatment of injuries related to the fire.
Absecon Emergency Medical Services and the Atlantic County Medical Examiner’s Office also worked at the scene. Officials remained there until nearly 9:30 p.m. They cordoned off the Boardwalk between Tennessee and New York avenues.
Saturday’s fire does not appear to have damaged the pier beyond what it sustained during a blaze two weeks ago, Brooks said.
The investigation into the Nov. 21 fire has not yet concluded, pending lab analysis of evidence. That fire destroyed four stores within the building and drew investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in addition to local authorities.
Contact Emily Previti: 609-272-7221 EPreviti@pressofac.com
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Posted in Atlantic_city, Top_three on Saturday, December 5, 2009 11:30 pm Updated: 11:53 pm.
