Flames doused, but firefighters still battle smoke in raging Long Branch fire

By: APP.com

Long Branch Fire (2/13/12): Brighton Ave near Ocean Ave 3 Alarm fire mid-day Monday. Staff iPhone video by Tom Spader

LONG BRANCH — A raging fire in West End that has destroyed at least an apartment building and a dance academy continues to bedevil city firefighters who have been attacking intense flames and thick smoke from all angles since 10:30 a.m. Monday.

However, with winds calming in the afternoon, firefighters appear to have caught something of a break as the flames in two buildings near Ocean Avenue have been put out. Firefighters, however, continue to spray streams of water on the affected buildings to battle heavy smoke, and according to Long Branch Asst. fire Chief Angelo Ciaglia, the fire is still not under control.

Ciaglia said that some 100 firefighters from 11 towns in Monmouth County continue to attack the areas of the blaze, which appears to have started at a dance academy at 59 Brighton Avenue and spread to a three-story building to its east side. The fire-tested firefighters, at times, were enveloped in large tufts of gray smoke as they sprayed water into the buildings. Ciaglia reports that there have been no injuries due to the blaze.

Businesses affected by fire include Sacred Circle New Age Center, Universe Graphics, Shelly Heedless and East Coast Coin. Firefighters are putting water on the apartments above those buildings.

Doris Fedum of Lakewood said she and others participated in events at Sacred Circle. She said she knew owners Adam Kane and Al Romao for five years.

“I got a call about the fire and had to come see it myself. This will affect a lot of people who went to Sacred Circle. It’s a community.’’

She gathered with others in the park across the street Monday afternoon to watch firefighters.

“It was a special place,’’ she said.

Another wall collapsed into Brighton Avenue at 3:20 p.m. Rashelle Ryant, owner of Shelly’s Jewelry, watched firefighters go into her store to try to stop the fire from spreading into her business.

“We have had this store 15 years,’’ said her daughter, Rena Golden, at the scene.

Ciaglia said the weakness of the fire-damaged buildings was a new problem for firefighters. The charred wood of the 100-year-old buildings is weak and can fall easily.

Ciaglia, who was the first on the scene at about 10:30 a.m., says he immediately called for a third alarm.

The fire was stubborn, and with gusts blowing east, the flames followed. What this morning was a brown brick apartment building has now been reduced to a charred frame. On the ground level, small shops appeared at the very least in danger of being destroyed.

Just before 1 p.m., huge chunks of burning facade crashed down onto Brighton, nearly flattening a row of firefighters on the street.

The fire destroyed the 12-unit apartment, four-store structure, reducing most of it to char and soggy ash while leaving residents homeless and merchants without their livelihood. According to Ciaglia, the first 25 firefighters on the scene had to evacuate a dozen people from the apartment building. The people rescued have been taken to the Community Center on Second Street, according to Long Branch Fire Chief Harold Bentley.

For more information and to read the full article please visit http://www.app.com/article/20120213/NJNEWS/302130035/Long-Branch-fire

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