Mount Trashmore Ramp Torched!

Firefighters suspect arson in the August 16th fire that destroyed the vert ramp at Mount Trashmore – Virginia Beach. Looks like the Street Vs. Tranny battle has gotten out of hand. This long time landmark in skating has been rebuilt before. Hopefully it will rise from the ashes and the guilty party will hang from the deck. These things are usually the result of disgruntled park users who get kicked out, be they BMX riders who aren’t allowed or just troublemakers. Cold War bigwig Steve Grover is just weeks away from a vacation in Virginia Beach. Could this be his wife’s way of making sure he spends time with the family? Did someone forget to keep the damn racoons out my truck? Good news is that at least the big vert ramp came away unscathed and the park will remain open, forcing kids to learn how to drop in. Get the scoop from News Channel 3. More links and pictures after the jump.

Here is what News Channel 3 had to say.. They’ve also got a high quality video link tht is probably being hammered by skaters everywhere.

Fire destroyed a popular hang out in Virginia Beach: the skate park at Mount Trashmore.

Your Newschannel Three was first on the scene just minutes after the fire broke out, shortly after 4 AM Wednesday morning.

Investigators call the blaze suspicious. Arson is one possible cause investigators are looking into. But they also have not ruled out lightning as the cause.

Whatever caused the blaze destroyed the skate park, leaving behind only a charred mess.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said 18-year-old skater Tommy Barnes. “I never thought I would see the day.”

A fire ball of orange flames devoured the skate park. A black plume of smoke loomed above, hanging over Mount Trashmore. Cont..

“Wow. They torched the park,” said Frank Rodriguez, who runs nearly every day around the park. “[I] couldn’t believe it. It was pretty amazing.”

Rodriguez is shocked the popular park, that sees 200 to 300 kids every day, went up in flames.

“A lot of money went into this park, so it is kind of bad to see this,” Rodriguez said.

Through the crackling flames, only the skeleton of the skate ramp remained. The rails crumbled under the intense heat, and much of the ramp collapsed.

News of the fire spread quickly Wednesday morning. Skaters came out to the skate park to see the destruction for themselves. They said they can’t believe the place they used to come nearly every day is now gone. Cont..

“It’s just piles of useless wood,” Barnes said.

Josh Urtz rode his bike to the skate park and watched in disbelief.

“Every day, we come out here, and it’s the same people,” Urtz said. “You’ll see people you don’t know. [We] just skate and have fun. Everyone recognizes who you are. [You] learn new tricks and have as much fun as you can.”

Instead, Wednesday morning, they took pictures of the bowl, ramp and rails they used to skate. Now, it is mostly rubble.

“I was pretty upset because we had a designated spot to ride,” Barnes said.

Investigators looked for clues to the cause, but said the fire is suspicious. That makes Josh Urtz mad. He was planning on trying out new tricks on the ramp.

“Now, its gone,” Urtz said. “So, hopefully they rebuild it, and we get to try it. I’m still shocked by it.”

Investigators said, if this is arson, they need your help in figuring out who set the fire.

Crimeline is offering up to $1,000, and the Arson Investigation Association is offering up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

They are still working on narrowing down the cause.

Ugh. That sucks. At least the big vert ramp is still up. Here’s a few more links.

From another local paper’s web site, the PilotOnline.com.

The city built the first skateboard facilities at Mount Trashmore in the early 1980s, with two asphalt “snake runs” at Encore Hill. Later, a vert ramp and small half-pipe were added. When those ramps wore down, the present skate park was built in 2003 for $300,000.

Last month, almost 5,700 people used the Mount Trashmore facility.

And there’s some video on WVEC.com, a local news station. They have a crappy feed of the entire newscast online, it’s slow and jerky, you’ll have so sit through a lot of non related stuff. If it moves you’ll need to look for something titled “First Look @ 5, Wed. Aug. 16”