Metro

Arson suspected in Jersey Shore boardwalk fire

An inferno that gutted more than 30 Jersey Shore boardwalk businesses and took all night to put out appears “suspicious” — and is being investigated by prosecutors, sources said on Friday.

Investigators are eyeing arson because the blaze erupted midday with no obvious cause — and it just happened to come at the end of the summer season, the sources told ABC News.

The fire is believed to have started under the boardwalk near Kohr’s Custard Stand on Thursday, wiping out six blocks of the boardwalk in Seaside Park.

Custard shop owner Bruce Kohr said his workers spotted the flames coming from under the planks — not inside the shop.

Firefighters battle a six-alarm blaze fueled by strong winds in Sandy-ravaged Seaside Park.EPA

“They smelled the smoke. They came out. They saw the flames shooting out from underneath the boardwalk,” he told The Post.

Losing the business has been traumatic, especially after suffering the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, he said.

“I was throwing up all night. I don’t know how much more I can take. I’m just kind of lost for words. It’s just tragic,” Kohr said.

“We’re a mess. We haven’t recovered fully from the effects of Sandy. This is just adding salt to the wound.”

Other business owners said they had only just recently repaired shops after the storm.

“The whole front of the building got burned. We don’t know whether [we have to] tear the whole building down,” said John Sundermann, 57, who owns Big Hearted John’s.

His T-shirt shop reopened in July after months of work to repair water damage left by Sandy.

Heartbroken neighbors gazed in shock at the devastation on Friday as firefighters sprayed the charred boardwalk with water.

“Just to have it gone, you just want to cry,” a tearful Shirley Kreszl, 62, told The Post.

“It just kind of knocks the wind out of you . . . It’s like a piece of you got damaged.”

About 100 firefighters remained at the scene overnight to ensure the fire wouldn’t reignite.

They dug a trench and ripped out a 25-foot chunk of the boardwalk to prevent the fire from spreading. Other workers shoveled sand to stop the fire.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also spoke briefly near the boardwalk to encourage relief efforts.

“We have endured and begun to come back from the devastation of Sandy. We will not let these fires destroy those efforts,” the governor pledged.

The inferno began at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday and damaged roughly 30 businesses, he said.

Winds of up to 30 mph pushed the fire through six blocks of the boardwalk, causing millions of dollars in damage, sources said.

Other business owners, who suffered only minor damage, said they felt lucky.

“Nobody had seen this coming. I don’t know how these other guys will rebuild . . . It’s their main source of income,” said Daniel Shauger, 41, who manages Funtown Arcade.

A small corner of the arcade had been burned, he said.

“It was spared. You wouldn’t think the building would be here in the morning,” Shauger said.

The boardwalk became a symbol of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction after it washed much of the area — including an amusement-park roller coaster — into the ocean last year.