STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Thousands will stroll the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk during the holiday weekend -- an option few considered just two decades ago.

Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and parts of the 1990s, portions of the 1.8-mile stretch in Ocean Breeze and South Beach were regularly damaged by fire. Most of the time, it was intentional.

One of the biggest fires happened on Halloween of 1990, when an arsonist set the walk ablaze, destroying a 450-foot section, according to Advance archives.

Four years later, a carelessly discarded cigarette sparked a fire that eventually engulfed a 200-foot section of the boardwalk in flames. An Advance editorial, "An Island Treasure Abused, and Mismanaged," spoke for all of Staten Island as it highlighted the frustration with the endless damage-and-repair cycle.

It's not the first time the boardwalk has burned. Several times in the last decade, sections of the boardwalk have had to be replaced after fires. Many of the worst fires were flat-out arson. Before the Parks Department filled in under the boardwalk with sand to prevent it, the vandals even liked to drive cars under the boardwalk and then set them on fire to ignite the wooden structure. It got so bad that after the last big fire in 1990, the Parks Department arranged to get special fire-resistant lumber from South America to rebuild the last damaged section. Now, another section of the 1.8-mile landmark is a charred ruin.

Again, in 1995, an arsonist torched a car underneath a section of the boardwalk, burning another 50-foot stretch, records show.

Slowly, the tide began to turn as elected officials and city agencies responded by pouring resources into the Boardwalk -- not just to prevent and repair damage, but to improve and beatify it.

Once a "municipal embarrassment," former NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape noted in 2003, the Boardwalk and its surroundings were being transformed into "Riviera of South and Midland Beach." Here are some of the highlights:

Extra enforcement from the NYPD and Parks Department chased away much of what plagued South Beach, residents told us in 2003, prior to the opening of the Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier.

Concrete "firebreaks" -- concrete capped by decorative hexagonal paving stones, flush with fire-retardant wooden planks -- were installed, in order to stop any flames from spreading.

In 2003, the Ocean Breeze Fishing Pier added a new recreational dimension to the Boardwalk.

Freedom Circle followed in 2005, providing a red, white and blue burst of patriotism.

The 2005 debut of South Fin Grill and Vanderbilt added a touch of elegance to the Boardwalk and brought more crowds in. A neighboring ice cream concession opened in 2007, providing a much-wanted quick-service option.

Last year,

Hundreds of thousands of visitors head to the Boardwalk and the beaches each year. The annual "Back to the Beach" event draws big crowds. The Advance Memorial Day Run does the same.

It makes us grateful that the only heat burning up the Boardwalk these days comes from the sun.