Shore community vows to rebuild

• Some residents may wait months to return
• Officials vow to reopen for summer tourism
• Sandy caused devastation along the New Jersey coast

The township's barrier island usually quiets after Labor Day, as summer residents and visitors disappear, and the island changes from a tourism destination into a hometown community.

But never like this.

Superstorm Sandy has transformed this island into something resembling a war zone. Armed National Guard troops patrol the area in camouflage Humvees and military vehicles. Military checkpoints control access to the island, while utility crews and public works employees continue to repair the area's devastated infrastructure.

Residents have been able to get only glimpses of the damage of their homes, but it could be months before anyone returns full time, officials said. Because of the extent of the destruction, residents have to stay with friends or family elsewhere.

As township public works employees and contractors continue to make repairs to the township's battered ocean beaches, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis vowed that the beaches will be ready for this summer's tourism season.

"It will be rebuilt, I believe,'' Acropolis said during a township tour of the beach off Sixth Avenue and looking at the damage by superstorm Sandy. "People in Brick and New Jersey are resilient people. We are Jersey and we're going to get it back.''

Superstorm Sandy, which made landfall on Oct. 29, destroyed 110 homes, including all 60 in Camp Osborn, on the township's barrier island, said Nils R. Bergquist, chief of police. The bungalow community — located near the southern end of the township portion of the barrier island — was burned to the ground after a fast-moving fire during the storm.

At the height of the storm, local fire departments were unable to access Camp Osborn because of rising floodwaters, Bergquist said. The cause of the fire has not been determined.

"We tried to get a crew down through Seaside Heights but they were unable to reach the fire,'' Bergquist said of Camp Osborn. "There was a couple who decided to stay on the island and were here (to) give us updates. They would call every couple of hours to inform us of what was going on.''