Firm to get $4.7M to clean up N.J. boardwalk fire
A Seaside Park police officer sits in his cruiser near the charred rubble in Seaside Park, N.J., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, after a fire on Thursday that started near a frozen custard stand in Seaside Park, quickly spread north into neighboring Seaside Heights. More than 50 businesses in the two towns were destroyed. The massive boardwalk fire in New Jersey began accidentally, the result of an electrical problem (Mel Evans/AP Photo)
Two New Jersey shore towns affected by a massive fire that destroyed parts of their boardwalks and dozens of businesses last month have jointly hired a contractor to do demolition and cleanup work.
Seaside Park and Seaside Heights officials agreed this week to hire South Toms River-based Eagle Paving Corp. The company will receive roughly $4.7 million for the work, which should get started sometime next week and take up to 60 days to complete.
Due to the emergency nature of the cleanup, state officials allowed the towns to skip a closed bidding process and instead allowed them to seek quotes.
Two of the four interested firms proposed a lower cost than Eagle Paving, but officials felt the bids were too low for the job to be done well.
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