Volunteer firefighters battled the blaze in close quarters on a dock and ramp. Below, onlookers at Riverview Medical Center. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
No one was injured in the dramatic waterfront blaze that destroyed and sank a yacht docked at a Navesink River marina Thursday night, Red Bank Fire Chief Nick Ferraro told redbankgreen.
A dockside boat fire blanketed Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center in smoke Thursday evening.
(See UPDATE below)
Fire destroyed at least one boat and damaged another in a predawn blaze at the Molly Pitcher Inn marina in Red Bank Saturday.
An intact utility stanchion abuts one damaged by vandalism at the borough-owned marina. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two teens were charged with a recent vandalism spree in Marine Park after a Red Bank police stakeout caught them in the act Wednesday night, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
A boat traveled through fog on the Navesink River off Marine Park in Red Bank Monday morning. The fog was expected to lift by 10 a.m., but alternating rain and cloudy skies were expected to linger until Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
Authorities searching for a 40-foot boat reported to have sunk off Sandy Hook Tuesday afternoon have found a sunken vessel, the New Jersey State Police reported Wednesday morning.
But they haven’t confirmed if it’s the “Jefe,” which was reported missing, according to a statement issued by the agency.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s boat Marine 1, seen here in the Navesink on Saturday, is involved in the search. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Authorities launched a massive search for a 40-foot boat reported to have sunk off Sandy Hook Tuesday afternoon, according to news reports.
The search, involving Coast Guard and police vessels, divers and helicopters, began with a 4:30 p.m. report of a 40-foot vessel sinking in the Sandy Hook Channel, abc7ny.com reported.
[POST UPDATED, 4 p.m.] A Ford Expedition SUV wound up in the Navesink River at the Rumson municipal boat ramp and sank shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Lieutenant Christopher York tells redbankgreen that the idling vehicle “somehow got into gear” and backed into the river with a trailer and inflatable vessel attached. No one was in either the boat or the SUV, he said, and no rescue was required. Borough police are investigating the cause of the accident, York said. State Police Marine Patrol responded, and the Department of Environmental Protection was notified.
Police are not identifying the owner of the vehicle, which was towed out of the river, York said. (Rumson PD photo above, reader photo at right. Click to enlarge)
A rowboater used an oar to push off from a floating boom as he struggled to turn a rented boat around underneath the new Hubbards Bridge under construction between Red Bank and Middletown Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The burned hull of the Fiddler at low tide last Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The icebound boat that went up in flames in the Navesink River in February has been removed from the waterway off Red Bank’s Maple Cove.
Is an arson charge next?
The charred outline of the Fiddler lies surrounded by ice in the Navesink River off Maple Cove in Red Bank Tuesday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owners of the icebound boat that went up in flames in the Navesink River last week say they are “devastated” by the blaze, which they attribute to arson.
“Not much of evidentiary value” remains of the icebound boat that burned on the Navesink off Red Bank early Wednesday, State Police spokeswoman Trooper Irina Spies said Thursday. “It burned to the water line.” Still, an investigation continues, and the agency’s marine unit will look into claims reported by redbankgreen that the Fiddler was the scene of a prior fire after the river froze in late January, she said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Fiddler last month, above, and during Wednesday’s fire, below, as seen from Maple Cove. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Did one or more vandals walk several hundred yards out onto the frozen Navesink River in the dead of night – in bitter cold – to torch an icebound boat early Wednesday? Or did the fire start without human assistance?
In the aftermath the predawn blaze that destroyed a vessel dubbed the Fiddler off Red Bank, some redbankgreen readers don’t find the arson scenario such a stretch – because there was another fire on the vessel in the past two weeks, they claim.
The fire that destroyed the Fiddler, at anchor and enclosed in ice on the Navesink River, early Wednesday morning, as seen from Riverside Gardens Park, the Cooper Bridge and Marine Park in Red Bank. As of 9 a.m. the vessel was still smoldering. (Cheesy video by John T. Ward. )
The Fidder seen from the Cooper Bridge as it burned early Wednesday morning. Below, the icebound vessel on January 26. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Fiddler, a mysteriously anchored boat that drew curious skaters, iceboaters and walkers out onto the frozen Navesink River in recent weeks, seemed to defy nature.
How long, people wondered, could it avoid getting crushed in the grip of ice between Red Bank and Middletown?
Well, if the so-called ‘lobster boat’ was doomed, few might have foreseen that it would meet its demise this way.
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of October 3 to October 10, 2013. This information is unedited.
CRIMES:
Theft occurring at W. Front St. on 10-4-13. Victim reported that unknown person(s) pried open door to shed and stole a boat motor. Det. Joey Fields.
Theft occurring on 10-5-13 at Bridge Ave. Victim reported that unknown person(s) entered parked vehicle and ransacked the console, taking a wallet, which contained cash and credit cards. Ptl. Jhonatan Quispe.
Theft occurring at Evergreen Terrace on 10-8-13. Unknown male subject stole a bottle of prescription medication from apartment and fled. Ptl. John Camarca.
Crime and arrest reports for the month of August, 2013, unedited, as provided by the Fair Haven Police Department.
August 4: Cpl. Jeff Jarvis took a theft report from the owner of a boat docked at the Shrewsbury River Yacht Club. $530.00 worth of property was removed from the vessel by and unknown actor(s). Det. Stephen Schneider is investigating.
August 4: S/O Robert Henne took a report of Criminal Mischief from a River Road resident. An unknown actor(s) broke the driver’s side window of a vehicle parked in the victim’s driveway. Nothing was removed from the vehicle.
Mechanic Chris Davison reboards the boat after the fire. (Click to enlarge)
Fire damaged a yacht docked at a Red Bank marina early Thursday afternoon.
Quick action by two employees of Irwin Marine, adjacent to Marine Park on the Navesink River, enabled them to move the burning vessel away from other boats in the marina, said firefighters, who extinguished the blaze from the promenade alongside the park.
Nels Lybeck, an Irwin mechanic, suffered lacerations, but refused medical attention.
“We were blowing out windows to get hoses in there, and his hand was cut,” said fellow mechanic Chris Davison, who with Lybeck moved the burning boat.
A Fair Haven fire hydrant wound up on River Road around the corner and several hundred feet from its customary home on Denormandie Avenue, right after it was struck and dragged by a boat trailer Thursday morning.
The driver pulled over and dislodged the hydrant, and then continued west on River Road, said borough police Sergeant Jesse Dykstra.
The crime reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of September 28 to October 5, 2012. This information is unedited.
Criminal Mischief occurring on Catherine Street on 9-28-12. Reports of two incidents of vandalism, one being a window that was scratched by unknown subject(s) and the other was gray paint graffiti on back of building. Ptl. Gary Watson.
Theft occurring at Water Street on 9-28-12. Victim reported that unknown person(s) stole a cell phone from table inside of establishment. Sgt. Frank Bitsko.
Theft occurring at 7-Eleven on Maple Ave. on 10-1-12. Victim reported that unknown male subject stole an antique Dutch Master penny holder from counter in store. Ptl. Michael Zadlock.
Participants in the 2011 edition of Paddle the Navesink Day, seen at Maple Cove, below, and from West Front Street down the Corinthian Cove driveway, above. (Click to enlarge)
By DANIELLE TEPPER
For the third year in a row, Red Bank will celebrate its nautical heritage with a day specially dedicated to the Navesink River. Open to landlubbers and water lovers alike, this Saturday’s Paddle the Navesink Day offers area residents chances to experience the river, rather than just look at it.
Starting at 10 a.m., the six-hour event offers those who may never have stepped foot into the fresh water thats always at their fingertips opportunities to get their feet wet, literally.
An ambulance arriving at Fort Hancock Monday evening, above, joining a growing number at two staging areas. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Calm and collected, the anonymous caller said he was standing in three-and-a-half feet of water on the bridge of an explosion-damaged yacht 17 miles offshore.
In a recording of the mayday call released by the U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday, the male voice goes on to claim “three deceased on board” and 20 “souls” in the water.
The call triggered a massive response that included an intensive air and sea search and an all-hands readiness turnout of emergency first aiders, firefighters and others, most of whom raced to Sandy Hook to help.
But the call, the Coast Guard says, was in all likelihood a hoax. And unless the caller is found and forced to cough up, it will cost taxpayers at least $300,000.
A State Police helicopter, above, and ambulances, below, arriving at Fort Hancock, ready to transport ‘victims’ of Monday’s purported boat explosion. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ambulances, including a “mass-casualty” vehicle capable of handling more than a dozen injured at a time, manned by dozens of volunteers from across Monmouth County. Fire trucks. A handful of helicopters standing by, and four others aloft, scanning hundreds of square miles of ocean in a desperate race to effort to help.
All mustered, apparently, on a hoax.
Roughly five hours and an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses after it began, a search for the 21 “victims” of a yacht explosion at sea that purportedly left up to nine people badly burned was suspended by the U.S. Coast Guard Monday night.
Now, the incident is a matter of investigating who set it all in motion, the Coast Guard says.
The command center in front of the mansion at 36 Northover Place in Middletown, where the victims of the boating accident came ashore, as seen at about 5 a.m. Sunday. (Click to enlarge)
An Atlantic Highlands man was charged with drunk driving in the Navesink River accident that killed the lone passenger of the boat he was operating and sent all five occupants of a second boat into the water Saturday night, State Police said Sunday morning.
The body of the victim, which had been missing after the 11:30 p.m. crash, was recovered from the river almost nine hours later, after being spotted by a State Police helicopter between Middletown and Fair Haven, said Sergeant Brian Polite.
An eyewitness gave redbankgreen a different account of the body’s recovery.
The name of the victim has not been released pending notification of next of kin, he said. [Update, 2:50 p.m.: NJ.com reports the victim was Christopher Plant, 50, from Keansburg.]
The National Park Service reports no injuries as a boat ran aground on the ocean beach at Sandy Hook after losing power late Wednesday afternoon. Details about the incident were not immediately available, a spokesman said. (Click to enlarge)