Firefighters Friday continued dousing smoldering hot spots on the fire-ravaged Oceanside Pier, a day after flames engulfed the western end of the historic seafront landmark.
Late Friday morning, city officials announced that firefighters were able to save 90% of the iconic 1,950-foot-long wooden structure, though the blaze gutted several businesses atop it — the Brine Box seafood restaurant, a bait shop and a shuttered commercial space that once housed a Ruby’s Diner.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation, authorities said.
The non-injury blaze erupted shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday in the vacant building, according to the Oceanside Fire Department, which urged the public to stay clear of the area for safety reasons as the flames sent a thick plume of black smoke to the east.
Crews from various agencies battled the flames aboard a pair of firefighting boats and water-dropping helicopters. The Coast Guard sent in a cutter to aid in handling the emergency.
Roughly three hours after the blaze broke out, the Oceanside Fire Department announced that crews had contained it to the seaward end of the pier and were making good progress toward fully extinguishing it.
As of midday Friday, the Strand, the nearest street to the pier, remained closed north of the structure to Surfrider Way due to the fire, according to police.
The pier, billed as the longest wooden structure of its kind on the West Coast, is a descendent of one that was built in the 1880s and fell to a storm in 1890. A replacement was built in 1896 and lasted six years before it too was destroyed by severe weather. The current one opened to the public in 1987.
–City News Service