Fire damaged Seaside Heights bar to pour drinks again “in the upcoming weeks”

     The bar's newly built upper level. (Photo: The Beachcomber Bar and Grill)

    The bar's newly built upper level. (Photo: The Beachcomber Bar and Grill)

    The Beachcomber Bar and Grill, a multi-level establishment located on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, will reopen soon after damage inflicted by last week’s massive fire is fixed, according to a posting on the bar’s Facebook page

    “We are ready to move forward and excited to serve you all again in the upcoming weeks. Phase one of the rebuild is complete meaning it is safe to start to picking up the pieces. The structure is sound, electrical inspection is complete, and water is restored to our building,” the posting states.

    Jessica Infante, whose family lives on the barrier island north of Seaside Heights, said that the news is “a Seaside Heights miracle!”

    In a YouTube video posted last week, owner Michael Carbone said that his bar was filled with customers when the fire began to approach from the south Thursday afternoon.

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    “Smoke started coming down the boardwalk. It got heavier and heavier. We asked the customers to leave. I went out and seen the fire was about three blocks away. And it slowly got closer, closer, and closer at a very fast rate,” he said.

    He then ran throughout the building with a backpack and started doing “the things that you do when you’re getting ready for your building to get destroyed.”

    Carbone didn’t leave until the bitter end.

    “When the buildings on either side of me were on fire is when I decided that it wasn’t safe for me to be in mine anymore.”

    He returned a few hours later Thursday evening, discovering smoke and water damage and some burnt areas in the second floor. An engineer deemed the building structurally sound. The downstairs was in good shape, he said. 

    The building’s sprinkler system, which had been installed during a recent upgrade, saved the structure, Carbone said.

    “It cost me a ton of money, but it was worth every single penny I paid for it.”

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