FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE MARINA BLAZE
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WEST WILDWOOD -- A fire at Cape May County marina took dozens of crews, hours to get under control. Officials say it went to at least six alarms.

The thick black smoke could be seen for miles, giving way to reveal the flames that quickly engulfed B&E Marine in West Wildwood. "Big flames coming up," said Sandi Buda, who was watching the scene, "more smoke than flames."

"It's a shame," said John Balzer, "real shame." Residents gathered to watch as the 26th street marina went up in smoke, and as walls came crashing down, "I don't know what to say," said Balzer, "it's a landmark, 26th street marina's a landmark."

Crews started battling the blaze, which was confined to the marina's main building, around 11 Monday morning. It took the work of 80 firefighters more than two hours to bring it under control. "It's, whew, terrible," said Bill Shisler, who lives up the street, "there's a lot of money here that's lost."

Officials say at this point, there are still a lot of unknowns, like where the fire may have started and what could've possibly sparked it. They also say they're not sure if the building will have to be demolished, but add it does appear to be a total loss. "It's gonna be a big, big loss," said Balzer, thinking about the loss to the community.

While crews tended to the fire, others went to work on the water in the backbay canal the marina sits along, fearing some of the chemicals on the property may've entered the water. "There was a boom out there to maintain any type of petroleum or oil based product that was on the water and could cause any more hazard," said West Wildwood Volunteer Fire Company's Chief, William Cripps.

Luckily, officials say no one was hurt while responding to the fire that went to at least 6 alarms, and add that no one was in the building when it broke out. They also say, upon first inspection, it appears no boats were seriously damaged, either.