OC Today-Dispatch NOVEMBER 21, 2025
STUBBORNLY LOCAL, EQUALLY INDEPENDENT
Sign up now for our new, Monday-Friday newsletter. — Page 67
PRICELESS
Room tax goes up slightly It’s just a penny, but raising the room tax from 5 to 6 percent means $5 million for Ocean City ... and, as part of the deal, additional wastewater treatment capacity for the county. — PAGE 12
PHOTO COURTESY OF OPVFD
Smoke billows out of Bayside Jet Drive last Thursday, as Berlin pours water onto the fire from its ladder truck. The burning fuel and materials inside the building made the fire one of the most intense firefighters in this area have seen in some time.
Watersports dealership burns Twenty-three fire companies answer call for assistance at Bayside Jet Drive last Thursday after the business turns into an inferno. More than 200,000 gallons of water were used to douse the flames. — Page 3
Decatur state soccer champs It’s been 23 years since the Seahawks soccer team won the state title. Now, it has its second and in the 3A division at that. — Page 10
Know this man? If you do, there’s a $5,000 reward posted for him, for robbing an Ocean City bank last year. — PAGE 22
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OC Today-Dispatch
NOVEMBER 21, 2025
UNIQUE THANKSGIVING EXPERIENCES AT ALL FIVE OF OUR YEAR ROUND LOCATIONS HARBOR WATCH | CAPTAIN’S TABLE | MARLIN MOON | CORAL REEF | 32 PALM
NOVEMBER 21, 2025
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OC Today-Dispatch
Fire ruins local business, officials say cause unknown By Brian Shane Staff Writer (Nov. 21, 2025) Firefighters from nearly two dozen fire companies responded last week to a raging inferno that incinerated a Berlin-area boat dealership owned by Worcester County Commissioner Eric Fiori. Officials said no one was hurt and the fire’s cause remains unknown. Fiori said the Nov. 13 conflagration consumed the commercial building that housed a showroom and offices for his business, Bayside Jet Drive. About 15 boats, a storage room for parts and accessories, not to mention countless business documents all were destroyed. This week, Fiori expressed profound gratitude, not only to the community for standing with him in the face of devastating loss, but to the firefighters from three counties who showed up to help. “If it wasn’t for our first responders from all those jurisdictions, this catastrophic fire would have been way, way worse,” he told OC Today-Dispatch. “The way they risked their lives to jump into that fire, there’s no words. As I’m watching the last 20-plus years of my life burn, none of that matters. I just wanted them to get home to their families and not spread to their neighbors, so they don’t have the same heartache I did.” It was 1:21 p.m. on Nov. 13 when the
Berlin Fire Company fielded the call that Bayside Jet Drive on Worcester Highway was on fire. Units arriving to the scene found flames already shooting through the roof and walls, according to Rob Korb, Chief Deputy Fire Marshal for Worcester County. Twenty-three fire departments from Worcester and Wicomico counties, as well as Sussex County in Delaware, responded to the firefight, bringing 64 pieces of apparatus, according to Korb. They spent eight hours at the scene, some working into the night, to contain and investigate the fire. Drop tanks were in place so tanker trucks could unload their water supply and make runs to keep the reservoir replenished for engines. Tankers filled up by tying into hydrants at a nearby Royal Farms and SonRise Church. More than 200,000 gallons of water, mostly tapped from municipal Berlin hydrants, were spent to extinguish the inferno, Korb said. As the gravity of the situation sunk in, Berlin Fire Company Chief Andy Gruden said he called out for all available firefighting units. His team radioed for a “tanker task force” as the incident response was upgraded to three alarms. “In a fire of that size, you need an incredible amount of water to bring it See LOCAL Page 6
SUBMITTED PHOTO/OC TODAY-DISPATCH
The active fire at the Bayside Jet Drive business on Worcester Highway (the former Route 113) is pictured.
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