Investigation continues into Ocean City boardwalk fire, park vows to rebuild

OCEAN CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- The smoke and fire that tore through Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, New Jersey, last month have cleared, but it's going to be a multi-million dollar fix for the park's owners.

"Everything's been gutted that's inside the office. There's not much left, said Brian Hartley, the VP of Playland's Castaway Cove.

Police, firefighters, and the ATF assessed the damage Saturday and are still trying to figure out a cause.

Investigators kept the block of the boardwalk blocked off.

"We're sitting here with our hands tied, waiting to try to get in there," said Hartley.

The city says last week's Nor'easter put a pause on the investigation.

"Bad weather as we know got in the way for a few days, and it's a huge property, so it's not like it's a small house that could be investigated in a day or two," said Jody Levchuk, an Ocean City councilman who also happens to own Jilly's Stores, a neighbor of the park.

The park says it's ready to rebuild when it can get back inside.

"It's painful. Obviously, we have records and things like that, that we're trying to see if anything is salvageable. If not, it's going to be quite a project trying to get that stuff back up and running," said Hartley.

He says the arcade and offices burned down, but the rest of the park was untouched and will reopen this summer.