Brighton Beach Boardwalk Ravaged By Massive Fire, FDNY Says

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- A massive blaze ravaged the historic boardwalk on Brighton Beach Sunday night, the FDNY said.

The two-alarm fire erupted underneath the boardwalk near Brighton Sixth Street and Brightwater Court just after 9:45 p.m., according to the FDNY.

It took more than 100 firefighers and emergency responders to get the blaze under control after 10 p.m., said the FDNY.

One person was injured but refused medical attention, the FDNY said.

The boardwalk has been an iconic part of Brooklyn's landscape since English entrepreneur William A. Engeman bought the marshland in 1868 and transformed the region into a resort area, according to the Parks Department.

Engeman modeled the fairgrounds, hotels and bathing pavilion off the popular seaside resort in England, which gives the neighborhood its name, and in the early 20th century it became a home to various diaspora from across the globe.

New York's master builder, and then-Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses took the property in hand in the 1950s as part of the Coney Island improvement program, promising Brighton Beach and Coney Island would be known as "the finest oceanfront recreation area in the world."

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire to erupt.