1981 — Jan 9, Fire, Beachview Rest Home (Sheltered Care Facility), Keansburg, NJ — 31
— 31 Jones, J. C. “1981 Multiple-Death Fires in the United States,” Fire Journal, July 1982, 68.
— 31 McFadden, R. D. “Fire Kills 20 at Home for Aged in New Jersey.” NYT, Jan 10, 1981.
— 31 NFPA. “Deadliest fires in facilities for older adults since 1950.” March 2003.
— 31 Township of Maplewood, NJ, Fire Department. “New Jersey Uniform Fire Code.”
— 31 U.S. Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing, March 9, 1981), p. 14
— 30 Coyne, Collette M. “Firefronts,” Firehouse, Feb 1981, p. 12..
— 30 Gabrielan, Randall. Keansburg, 1997, p. 68.
— 30 U.S. Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing, March 9, 1981). P.8.
— 20 McFadden, R. D. “Fire Kills 20 at Home for Aged in New Jersey.” NYT, Jan 10, 1981.
Narrative Information
Coyne: “Keansburg, New Jersey, January 9 – Thirty elderly persons were killed when a predawn fire raced through the Beachview Rest Home located in this suburban waterfront community. Eighty other residents escaped from the 54-room home into subfreezing temperatures. All of the fatalities occurred in the 75-year-old section of the building which formerly housed a resort motel. First-arriving units reported heavy smoke and fire showing from the front of the two-story structure. Mutual aid brought over 200 firefighters and EMT’s to the scene. The building was equipped with smoke detectors and a manual alarm system—but did not have a sprinkler system and was not required to by law.” (Coyne, C. M. “Firefronts,” Firehouse, Feb 1981, 12.)
Gabrielan: “The former Hotel Mahler was converted to a boarding house in 1969, while a one-story, concrete, intermediate care facility was added in 1972. The place was gutted by a fire on January 9, 1981, that killed thirty residents. The toll could have been higher were it not for the home’s regularly conducted fire drills. The conflagration caused the highest number of casualties ever in a New Jersey building fire, although greater numbers of lives have been lost in maritime and aviation disasters.
“The Beachview fire, along with the 1980 Brinley Inn fire in Bradley Beach and contemporary hotel fires elsewhere, prompted review of safety regulations resulting in the Fire Safety Act of 1983. It contained extensive regulatory changes for public buildings, notably the widespread use of automatic sprinkler systems.” (Gabrielan, Randall. Keansburg, 1997, p. 68.)
McFadden: “Twenty persons were killed and 13 others were missing and feared dead early yesterday in a fire of undetermined origin that roared through a two-story brick and stucco home for the elderly in Keansburg, N.J. At least 78 of the 111 residents escaped, but 17 were injured, two critically. The heat of the blaze was so intense that it drove back firemen trying to rescue residents.
“Many of those who died were roused from sleep by staff members in time to get out, but returned to their beds or wasted critical seconds trying to dress as the flames drew near and enveloped them, the authorities said.
“Confusion in the Smoke
“Some of the victims were described as senile. Others were said to have been sedated by medication and virtually helpless or too confused or terrified to understand what was happening in the din of jangling alarms and billowing smoke and flames.
“Some, a priest said, may have ”just given up in the face of the danger.” ”It was bad – it was a hell house,” Jose Medina, a volunteer medic, said of the conflagration that engulfed the 54-room Beachview Rest Home a block off the beachfront in Keansburg, a Monmouth County community 15 miles south of Manhattan on a spit of land that juts into Raritan Bay just across from the southern shore of Staten Island.
“One elderly man, his nightclothes aflame, leaped from a second floor window and was found dead in front of the building, clutching a window screen. Another man who apparently jumped from a rear window was found dead in the snow outside. Both were badly burned.
“Floor Collapses in Blaze
“As flames and heavy smoke leaped from windows and rushed through the home, others who died were trapped in bedrooms and hallways on the second floor, which collapsed during firefighting efforts.
“It was the second major fire in the metropolitan area in a little over a month, and the second in a Monmouth County special-care facility in six months. On Dec. 4, 26 persons were killed in a blaze at Stouffer’s Inn in Westchester County, and 23 persons, many mentally handicapped, died last July 26 when flames destroyed the Brinley Inn, a nursing home in Bradley Beach, 15 miles southeast of Keansburg.
“Through much of the day, as firemen searched the charred and smoking rubble for bodies, frightened relatives were left in an agony of doubt over the fate of the missing. Late in the day, however, there appeared to be little hope for those unaccounted for.
“The Monmouth County Medical Examiner, Dr. Stanley M. Becker, put the death toll at 31. The County Prosecutor, Alexander D. Lehrer, said at a news conference, however, that 20 bodies had been found by nightfall, when the search for bodies was discontinued for the evening. Noting that ”parts of bodies” had been found in the rubble, he said identification would be difficult and might take several days to complete. Thirteen residents were missing and believed dead, he pointed out, raising the probability that 33 persons were dead in the blaze.
“Smoke Fells Four Firemen
“At least four firefighters were felled by smoke as hundreds of volunteer firemen from a half-dozen surrounding communities battled the blaze for more than three hours. The building, except for a small wing, was reduced to a smoldering shell by dawn.
“Mr. Lehrer, the Prosecutor, said there were no apparent legal violations in the home, a 75-year-old former hotel and nightclub that was converted into a rest home in 1966. But Mr. Lehrer said that a new state law requiring the installation of sprinkler systems in facilities like Beachview had been waived for the home last September by Dr. Solomon Goldberg, director of licensing, certification and standards for the New Jersey Department of Health. He said he did not know why the waiver had been granted. Mr. Lehrer said that a Health Department regulation covering fire safety systems in homes for the elderly had required sprinkler systems in buildings of three stories or more. He added that a new law, effective last September, applied the sprinkler requirement to two-story buildings offering licensed shelter care, like Beachview.
“The state Health Commissioner, Dr. Joanne Finley, said last night, however, that there had been no change in the law, contrary to what Mr. Lehrer had said. She said that shelter-care facilities like Beachview were not required to have sprinklers unless they were at least three stories tall.
“It was unclear whether the lack of sprinklers had contributed to the tragedy. The prosecutor said, however, that this would be examined in an investigation by his office and state police and fire marshals.
“In a news conference, the home’s owner, Francis Cappodona, said that no sprinklers had been installed because none was required under state codes governing this type of facility. ”Our building totally complied with the state fire code for this type of building,” he said.
“The home, which is licensed by the state Health Department, was not technically a nursing home, which is a facility licensed to handle patients in need of close medical attention, but it was more than a mere boarding house. Officials said it was a combination of ”shelter-care facility,” providing room and board for 75 ambulatory residents in the two-story front portion, and an ”intermediate care facility,” in which medication and other needs were filled for 36 residents in a one-story rear wing. Intermediate care is a step lower than that provided in a fully licensed nursing home, officials said.
“The Beachview passed a state Health Department inspection last July, according to Amy Schemelia, a department spokesman. It also passed at least one local fire inspection within the past year, according to Frank DiGangi, the chief of Keansburg’s Volunteer Fire Department. Crash Bars on Doors
“Mr. Cappadona, the home’s owner, said there were seven exits, all equipped with so-called crash bars that opened doors easily from the inside. Only six exits were apparent from the outside, however: the main front door, one in the rear on the first floor, one on the second floor leading to an outside staircase and three in a rear wing.
“Mr. Cappadona said that heat and smoke detectors had been installed in all bedrooms, hallways, closets, recreation rooms and dining and kitchen areas as well as the basement, as required by state codes, and he said these had functioned properly and that the staff had roused and evacuated residents in accordance with bimonthly fire drills.
“It was unclear how, or precisely when and where, the fire began, though officials said it may have started in the first floor dining area near the front and up to an hour before flames were noticed.
“Fire Chief DiGangi said that the fire had been discovered by Sgt. Raymond O’Hare of the Keansburg Police Department on routine patrol in his car. He was said to have seen flames and to have turned in the alarm at 3:57 A.M.
“But one neighbor, William Clayton, 30, said he had spotted ”a flame flicker in a window” as he left for work at 3:50 A.M. and ran over and banged on the locked front door. He said no alarms were ringing as a staff member came and ”fumbled with keys” to open it. At that point, Mr. Clayton said, he saw the staff member manually turn on an alarm, and the evacuation began. This suggested that heat and smoke detectors had not automatically alerted the home, as the owner had contended.
“Another couple, Fred and Edna Garrison, who live five doors away, reported having smelled smoke as early as 3 A.M. They said they thought it was from a wood-burning stove in a home between theirs and the Beachview, however.
“Most of Survivors Exit Quickly
“Within six to eight minutes of Sergeant O’Hare’s report, 40 firemen were on the scene, Chief DiGangi said. Even as they arrived, however, flames were engulfing the front of the building and most of the 78 sobbing and shivering survivors and a half dozen employees were already making their way out through rear fire exits and an exterior stairway, hobbling into subzero cold. Most were found huddling outside, some naked and cloaked only in blankets, others standing in flimsy nightgowns or pajamas, their faces streaked with soot and twisted with fear.
”It was unbelievable,” said 67-year-old Nick Naumetz. ”The smoke, the flames, the sirens ….” As scores of fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles raced to the scene, a dozen of the injured were taken to Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, where two persons, Andrew Sczeliga, 74 years old, and Richard Bols, 80, were admitted in critical condition with respiratory and cardiac problems. Others were taken for treatment to Riverview Hospital in Red Bank and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in nearby Lyons.
“Uninjured survivors were taken by bus to a local fire station, where, amid cots and a makeshift kitchen, scenes of suffering and sorrow unfolded during the day, along with an occasional burst of joy as relatives found survivors. Some were taken to stay with relatives; others were housed in nearby nursing homes. Search Suspended for Night.
“Anxious relatives of the home’s residents, meantime, went to a makeshift morgue in a rescue squad station and flooded the Keansburg police station with calls from across the country as firemen continued searching the charred and smoldering ruins for bodies.
“Although they suspended their search in the rubble for the evening, the authorities continued to search for 13 missing residents in homes nearby and in calls to relatives of the rest home’s residents. Authorities said it was possible that some residents of the home had escaped and had been picked up by relatives or taken in by neighborhood people.
“It was a day of charity for Keansburg. Blankets, sheets, food, clothing and other provisions were supplied by churches, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and townspeople.
“The community was a summer resort until the late 1950’s, when New Yorkers and residents of northern New Jersey traveled to Jersey beaches by rail and back roads. The city still has beachfront arcades and tawdry amusement areas, but these contrast sharply with the modest homes, many of them winterized bungalows, of what is now a predominantly working-class community of 10,680 people.” (McFadden, R. D. “Fire Kills 20 at Home for Aged in New Jersey.” NYT, Jan 10, 1981.)
U.S. Congress: “The Fire. It began at about 4:00 am on the morning of January 9. The cause is undetermined. Fire experts are guessing either arson or electrical failure. However, it may be impossible to isolate the actual cause. Three nurses aides on duty did an excellent job in evacuating patients but for their effort all may have perished.
“The Building. The fire occurred in a two-story wood frame building with lath and plaster on interior walls. For looks on the outside, a brick veneer had been installed but it was not weight bearing. Adjoining this building which was over 60 years old, a modern one-story nursing home (intermediate care facility) had been built in 1972. This addition was separated by a brick fire wall. All of the 30 deaths took place in the two-story building which had been used as a boarding home since 1969.
“Fire Safety Codes. New Jersey recently passed a new law setting forth minimum health and safety standards for boarding homes which now must be licensed. (Another fire occurred in Bradley Beach, New Jersey six months ago which claimed 24 lives). The facility was licensed and reported in compliance with State standards. There are no Federal minimum standards for boarding homes even though most of the residents in such facilities nationwide have their housing paid for either through Federal Supplemental Security Income funds, social security payments or veteran’s benefits. Present Federal law requires only that the State license boarding homes.
“With respect to the adjoining nursing home, there are Federal minimum standards. The facility complied with these. There were sprinklers in this addition but there is provision in the current Federal code which allows the Fire Marshal of the State to waive this requirement if there are equivalent protections available to residents.
“Quality of Care. From what we can tell, the facility was providing excellent care, both to boarding home and nursing home residents. The files of the State Nursing Home Ombudsmen have very few complaints associated with the facility. The owners recently obtained a permit to expand their nursing home.
“Response of the Fire Department. A passing policeman notified the fire department which arrived within three minutes. This is a very rapid response time. The Fire Chief sent in an additional alarm bringing help from five communities. Some 100 firefighters appeared to help suppress the blaze. The attack on the fire was more than adequate.
“The Residents. There were some 76 residents in the boarding home; the majority had been referred there from the Marlboro mental hospital. The second largest number were referred by the Veteran’s Administration (13). The remainder were community residents. The primary source of funding for the discharged mental patients is the Federal Supplemental Security Income Program. It is the same old story.
“Fault. If one could fault the facility, it would be for keeping exit doors locked although one can appreciate the problem of open doors with this kind of population. Second, a fire escape should have been built on one side of the building…. [pp. 15-16]
“Names and Information About Those Who Died
Everett Basch 60…
Richard Bols 80…
Ruth Carraro 59…
Della Deegan 81…
George Drexel 55…
Edward Everett 80…
Charles Gormley 56…
Richard Guillod 67…
Elsie Gunther 71…
Jessie Keistimales 65…
Virginia Kellogg 62…
Dorothy Klein 55…
John Knapp 63…
Jessie Leas 73…
Juan Lopez 34…
Lena Mandez 71…
Ophelia McHarg 62…
Celia Olbris 93…
Lucy Paternoster 82…
Murry Perzley 46…
Steve Petek 35…
Louis Pinerous 37…
May Romano 80…
Jean Scott 85…
George Shotwell 69…
William Simonson 71…
Ruth Van Sise 61…
Gertrude Smith 38…
Daniel Tannanbaum 63…
Mary Wilk 72…
Mildred Wills 63…” [p. 19]
(U.S. Congress, House. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing, March 9, 1981), pp. 15-16 & 19.)
Sources
Coyne, Collette M. “Firefronts,” Firehouse, Feb 1981, pp. 12-13.
Gabrielan, Randall. Keansburg. Arcadia Publishing, 1997. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=sgjf3sGaLVgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Jones, Jon C. “1981 Multiple-Death Fires in the United States,” NFPA Fire Journal, Vol. 76, No. 4, July 1982, p. 68.
McFadden, Robert D. (N.Y. Times News Service). “Crippling storms making way to Northeast.” Indiana Gazette, Indiana, PA, 12-29-2000, 12. Accessed 3-27-2014 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=110450401&sterm
National Fire Protection Association. Deadliest Fires in Facilities for Older Adults Since 1950. Accessed 1-22-2009 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=795&itemID=20732&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fact%20sheets/Nursing%20homes/Deadliest%20fires%20in%20facilities%20for%20older%20adults
Township of Maplewood, NJ, Fire Department. “New Jersey Uniform Fire Code.” Accessed 5-30-2015 at: http://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/308
United States Congress, House of Representatives. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing before the Select Committee on Aging, 97th Congress, 1st Session, Jan 21, 1981, Trenton, NJ).
Washington, DC: GPO, 1981.
United States Congress, House of Representatives. Boarding Home Fires: New Jersey (Hearing before the Select Committee on Aging, 97th Congress, 1st Session, March 9, 1981, Keansburg, NJ). Washington, DC: GPO, 1981.