As investigators work to determine the cause of a suspicious fire that destroyed five Boardwalk businesses June 24, the city is just hoping to get the debris down as quickly as possible.

The building's owner has decided to hire his own demolition crew, rather than have the city do it, City Engineer William Rafferty said.

The crew got started Monday on the lighter work, such as debris removal and any work that can be done by hand, Rafferty said. “The heavier work they want to wait until Thursday.”

But Rafferty was not happy with that time frame.

“I'm saying that's not good enough,” he said. “(The building) can't come down fast enough for me.”

But a representative from the demolition company, Mazzocchi Wrecking of East Hanover, Morris County, said they were still waiting for the contract from the owner.

Joseph Zoll, who is listed as the owner, could not be reached for comment Monday.

The contract is just a formality, said Ron Callari, chief estimator for Mazzocchi.

“We expect to be there within three to five days,” he said. “The scenario we have is to take the building down to the slab.”

The company also was waiting to hear whether the city would use Mazzocchi to take down the damaged section of Boardwalk or have their own people do it, Callari said.

The Fire Department received complaints from many on the scene of the three-alarm blaze last week, saying they took at least 20 minutes to a half-hour to respond to the fire. But Foley said he has investigated those claims.

“From the time the first 911 call came from 1315 Boardwalk it was seven minutes until the first water was applied on that fire, which is pretty fast,” he said.

Both Foley and Fire Chief Dennis Brooks agreed that — while the log shows three minutes to respond to the scene — firefighters were hampered in getting onto the Boardwalk.

The call first came to Ocean Avenue, which the first response group went to.

That is where the fire began, therefore firefighters could not get onto the Boardwalk from that street.

Those responding to the second alarm were the first onto the Boardwalk, Foley said. But the total time was still seven minutes.

The time discrepancy from witnesses was a “matter of perspective,” he said.
“People don't understand that when you see that volume of fire, one minute seems like 20 minutes,” Foley said. “If you're watching your business be consumed, it's going to seem longer. Bottom line is, our response time was seven minutes.”