OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) -- Fire officials were investigating Thursday the cause of a blaze that leveled eight beachfront town houses valued at $8 million.
The early morning fire on 125th Street on Wednesday caused another $1 million in damage to nearby buildings, said Ocean City Fire Marshal Sam Villani Jr. His office is evaluating the scene but doesn't yet know if the cause was accidental or arson, he said Thursday.
Firefighters found the wooden homes, among the first built in Ocean City in the early 1960s, already caved when they arrived on the scene at about 3:25 a.m., said Ocean City fire Chief Roger Steger.
``They were gone when we got here,'' he said. On Wednesday morning, resort police, fire and building inspectors watched as plumes of smoke rose from blackened rubble.
More than 100 firefighters from Ocean City and nearby communities fought the blaze. The 911 call came from a neighbor two blocks away, Steger said.
Jacqui Cummings of Ellicott City said her family purchased one of the destroyed homes in the early 1960s for $27,000.
``We grew up in the town house. We lived here every summer,'' Cummings said. ``We're going to rebuild.''
Related :
