Tiki torch fire ignites a squabble in Belmar

Tiki torch fire ignites a squabble in Belmar

Authorities say it wasn't arson
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/28/07
BY ERIK LARSEN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

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BELMAR — Borough police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office were at odds earlier this month over whether to charge two New York City firefighters with arson at a summer bungalow in town, Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle said.

Pringle addressed the dispute in an e-mail he wrote to one of the victims' mothers this past weekend concerning the Aug. 17 fire at 108 13th Ave. There were no injuries, but four people had their possessions damaged. The mother provided a copy of the e-mail to a reporter.

"I strongly agree with your view of the incident and its seriousness, as does the Belmar Police Department," Pringle wrote Saturday morning. "Unfortunately, the ultimate decision to charge suspects with major crimes rests with the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Not only did they decline to charge the suspects with arson — which is what our police department had urged — they declined even to charge them with a failure to report the incident."

First Assistant County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw declined Monday to comment on Pringle's e-mail. However, Warshaw confirmed that the Prosecutor's Office and the county Fire Marshal's Office have determined that the small blaze was accidental.

"It involved individuals who were trying to light a tiki torch, which was apparently accidentally dropped and caused there to be a fire on the furniture and other combustible items that were on a porch outside the residence," Warshaw said. "As I understand, the fire was quickly extinguished and caused minor damage."

Both the firefighters and the four bungalow occupants are seasonal renters with units on the same lot. The bungalow is a freestanding unit at the rear of the property and includes an open porch where the tiki torches and a gallon of lighter fluid had been left overnight.

The bungalow occupants were asleep when the fire started in the early morning hours of a Friday.

The firefighters had told investigators they stumbled upon the fire and extinguished the blaze without alarming their sleeping neighbors. But police were convinced that the firefighters themselves had set their neighbors' tiki torches ablaze while horsing around on the property after a night of drinking.

The tiki torches normally consume about eight ounces of lighter fluid, but the gallon-sized container — full the night before — was empty the following morning.

"I can't account for their decision, and can only recommend that you contact Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin and ask that he explain it to you," Pringle said in the e-mail. "I think you and your daughter and her housemates deserve an explanation."

"Much ado about nothing"


Police Chief Jack Hill on Monday sought to downplay the perception of a disagreement between the two agencies.

"This is much ado about nothing," Hill said. "The investigation led where it led. . . . It's negligence, they knocked over a tiki torch. There's no intent there. We couldn't establish any intent we could have prosecuted."

While Hill acknowledges an initial difference of opinion, he said he takes no issue with how the Prosecutor's Office investigated the matter and said he agrees with their findings.

Nevertheless, Hill said Belmar planned to forward his department's case files to the New York City Fire Department for internal review to determine whether administrative action against the firefighters was warranted.

Hill and Warshaw declined to release the names of the firefighters.