Historic Clarksburg Inn damaged by fire; clues sought on cause

By COLLEEN CURRY and JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU

Asbury Park Press, http://www.app.com

An early morning fire Thursday heavily damaged a historic tavern-restaurant, the Clarksburg Inn, leaving in doubt whether the 1830s structure can be rebuilt from the shell that remains.

The cause of the fire, which began in the main foyer of the two-story, wooden building on Stagecoach Road, remained under investigation and no determination has been made as to whether it was suspicious, State Police Detective Brian Polite said.

No one was believed to have been in the building during the fire, which was reported about 5:35 a.m. — about 4 1/2 hours after closing and 5 1/2 hours before it was to re-open for business. There were no injuries associated with the blaze, Fire Chief Ed Reed said.

Township officials allowed the Clarksburg Inn to use the township Community Center, which is next door between the burned building and the firehouse, to do some business Thursday, such as providing lunch to the nearby Black Bear Lake Day Camp, Township Administrator James V. Pickering said.

The Clarksburg Inn might be able to reopen in a pavilion, a converted barn on the property with a bar and kitchen area, Pickering said. Reed said the pavilion sustained water damage. Pickering said the electricity, which had been disconnected to fight the fire, had to be re-connected.

Inn co-owner Charles Meron said he arrived at the Inn shortly after 6 a.m., after being contacted by a relative who saw a news report of the fire.

"I don't know what's next," Meron said. "It will have to be boarded up. Our intention would be to rebuild it."

No determination had been made later Thursday on whether the building could be salvaged, according to township officials. But Pickering said, "It looks like the whole thing's got to come down."

Meanwhile, the building would be enclosed with a temporary fence, according to township officials.

Because of the smoke and the closing of part of Stagecoach Road, the Municipal Building was closed Thursday, Pickering said. It was scheduled to re-open today at its normal time, 8:30 a.m.

A passerby reported smoke at the Inn about 5:35 a.m., said Reed, chief of the Millstone Township Fire Company. Reed, who lives nearby, said he was the first firefighter on the scene, arriving in about two minutes and finding "heavy smoke conditions on all sides, heavy fire conditions in the interior."

Paid firefighters start work at 6 a.m., and no one was at the firehouse when the fire was reported, according to the fire company.

Diagonally across the street, Roger Strickland, 64, a neighbor of the Inn for 38 years, had just awakened and smelled smoke.

"First thing, I made sure it wasn't my residence," Strickland said.

When Strickland went outside to look for the source, the odor was stronger, he said. That is when he heard the fire siren go off at the nearby firehouse. About this time, smoke was coming out of part of the roof's overhang, Strickland said.

As the fire progressed, "it was thick, black smoke," Strickland said. "You couldn't see anything."

As many as 100 or more firefighters from at least 13 fire companies, from as far away as Marlboro and Plainsboro, battled the fire, according to fire company and township officials.

The fire was brought under control by about 10 a.m., Reed said. The roof was destroyed, and the two floors sustained heavy fire damage, Reed said.

"A lot of hidden spots, voids (in the building) — it was a tough fire to get to," said Reed, adding that firefighters who had entered the building were "driven back by heavy fire."

In a township with no public water supply, firefighters first relied on tankers to supply water, then later used two 5-inch-diameter hoses to pump water out of a pond at Black Bear Lake Day Camp.

"The firefighters in this town, adjacent towns, do a great job," said Stephen Cox, 51, who lives nearby in Upper Freehold and stopped by the fire scene.