Fire Rescue News- Beach Haven fire damages Gables Bed and Breakfast, upper apartments in Surflight Theatre's ice cream parlor

Posted: Monday, April 9, 2012 1:45 am | Updated: 8:32 am, Mon Apr 9, 2012.

By DONNA WEAVER Staff WriterpressofAtlanticCity.com | 0 comments

two buildings were partially destroyed in the fire: the Gables on Centre Street and upper-level apartments in the Surflight Theatre’s Showplace Ice Cream Parlor.

The roof of a gazebo on a property about one block away also was damaged by fire due to wind, Letts said.

“Everyone was called out at around 5:15 p.m., and everything was under control and out at around 7:20 p.m.,” Letts said.

Letts said The Gables was serving Easter dinner to diners when the fire broke out.

“They were open for business and there was still food on the table when we got there. Everyone got out right away once they realized the building was on fire. There were no injuries,” Letts said.

It was undetermined if the fire caused a total loss to the Gables, Letts said Sunday evening. Investigators from the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office, Ocean County Criminalitics Investigation Unit and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office were on the scene, he said.

“The cause of the fire has not been determined. They will be back out there tomorrow investigating,” he said.

Responding to the fire were members of the Beach Haven Volunteer Fire Company, Ship Bottom Volunteer Fire Company, Surf City Volunteer Fire Department, High Point Volunteer Fire Department, Barnegat Light Volunteer Fire Company, Stafford Township Volunteer Fire Company, Barnegat Fire Company, Eagleswood Volunteer Fire Company, Parkertown Volunteer Fire Department, Tuckerton and West Tuckerton volunteer fire departments; Mystic Islands Volunteer Fire Company, Waretown Volunteer Fire Company and Warren Grove Volunteer Fire Company.

Letts said departments from other areas also covered duties at fire departments that were responding to the Beach Haven fire.

“All the manpower was used and a few of trucks ended up sucking water from the bay because we were using so much water. We had people from every company checking houses in a two-block radius to make sure there were no embers that could catch fire,” he said. “Everyone did a great job and we stopped it fast. It absolutely could have spread because of the wind.”

Thy Cavagnaro, of Barnegat Township, said she and her husband were on the beach as the blaze started to burn on Centre Street.

“We were on the beach with our dogs and my husband was like, look at that, and there was all this black smoke. We pulled up a block away from where the fire was and started taking pictures,” Cavagnaro said.

“All we saw was the fire from the beach and about five or 10 minutes later we started hearing explosions and we didn’t really know what was going on, but it sounded like maybe propane tanks exploding,” she said.

Beverly Welling, of Beach Haven, said it was as if the whole town came out Easter Sunday as firefighters battled the blaze.

“I saw some of the flames coming up through the roof on the backside. The roof had hole in it and they had big ladder trucks out and were hosing it down. They had it way under control,” Welling said.

Contact Donna Weaver: 609-226-9198 DWeaver@pressofac.com