Jan. 31—George Flowers was walking to get his first cup of coffee on Saturday morning when he looked out of the window of his 14th-floor condo and saw a massive black plume of smoke billowing over the boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J.
"I got onto Facebook Live as soon as I could," Flowers, 67, said. "Then the flames erupted and it looked like a full block of the boardwalk was on fire."
It's unclear what time the blaze started, what the extent of the damage is, and whether anybody was injured in the flames. An Ocean City firefighter who answered the phone at the department's headquarters at noon said nobody was available to comment because all firefighters remained at the scene.
According to 6ABC, firefighters were already on scene battling the four-alarm blaze when their news crew showed up shortly after 8 a.m. The fire was along a stretch of the boardwalk that includes Hamburger Construction Company, Pushpa's Beach Jewelry, and Prep's Pizzeria and Dairy, according to 6ABC.
Playland's Castaway Cove, located at 1020 Boardwalk, was also damaged in the fire, according to the attraction's owners, who vowed to rebuild in a post on Facebook Saturday.
As of noon Saturday, more than 1,000 people had shared the post.
Flowers, a Realtor who's lived in Ocean City for 23 years, said at one point more than 6,700 people were tuned into his Facebook Live video of the fire. He said his first thought was of the first responders, who had to battle the blaze in freezing temperatures.
Next, his mind turned to his beloved boardwalk and all it has been through recently, from its closure at the beginning of the tourist season due to the pandemic to the foreclosure of Gillian's Wonderland Pier, which was reported earlier this week.
He hoped every business damaged in the fire will be able to rebuild and was bolstered by news that the owners of Playland's Castaway Cove had already vowed to do so.
"I have grandkids ranging from 6-months to 12-years-old and we love the Ocean City boardwalk, we've been coming here for years, since I was a child," Flowers said. "I can't wait till Castaway Cove rebuilds."
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