Radio traffic from Point Pleasant Beach, NJ motel fire with 3 dead, 8 injured, 10 missing
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An early morning fire killed three people Friday at a Jersey shore motel whose residents included Superstorm Sandy victims who were staying there because their homes remain uninhabitable nearly a year and a half after the storm, officials said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir-XVh56SzE
Three other people were critically injured in the blaze that broke out around 5:30 a.m. at the Mariner’s Cove Motor Inn two blocks from the beach in this popular summer resort town.
Authorities said several other people may be unaccounted for. Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office, said investigators are interviewing motel management to determine how many people were staying there when the fire broke out. The motel’s office was destroyed and most records were lost, he said.
New York News
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MaryAnn Spoto, The Star-Ledger:
The fire was called in at 5:42 a.m. and quickly spread out of control, said Capt. Robert Dikun of the Point Pleasant Beach police.
The fire ignited on the western side of the building, but investigators are still determining exactly how and where it started, Dikun added. Investigators have focused on a second-floor smoking lounge at the corner of the second floor, authorities said. As with any deadly fire, authorities are handling it as a suspicious blaze until proven otherwise, they added.
Eight others suffered injuries, and at least three of them are in critical condition as the search for victims continues. Officials say that 10 people are unaccounted for at this time, and anyone who may have been at the motel is urged to contact authorities.
The flames broke out at the Mariner’s Cove Motor Inn in Point Pleasant Beach just before 6 a.m. Fire shot through roof of the structure, which is located just a few blocks from the beach.
Authorities say several of the 25 units were occupied by an estimated 40 people, some of them displaced Superstorm Sandy victims, and one woman had to be rescued by firefighters after she holed herself up in her shower to avoid the smoke and flames.
