On Thursday afternoon, April 25, social media erupted into a frenzy as reports and images spread of a fire burning on the iconic Oceanside Pier, the well-known surf spot in San Diego County, California. Dark smoke billowed into the sky from a vacant restaurant (the former Ruby’s diner) at the end of the pier.
First reported around 3 p.m., firefighters and first responders arrived within minutes and fought the flames from the air, water, and the pier itself. As per the latest update by the City of Oceanside, efforts are still underway to completely extinguish the fire, but firefighters, who worked through the night, are confident that the majority of the pier has been saved.
“Firefighting efforts have contained the fire to the far west end of the Pier,” the City of Oceanside said in a statement at 7 a.m. on Friday. “Firefighters removed some planks across the pier for fire access, and to protect the rest of the pier. The structures (vacant restaurant and small food service structure, The Brine Box) are heavily damaged. No further loss of the Pier is anticipated.”
According to Oceanside Fire Department Chief David Parsons, at one point it was feared that the entire pier would be lost.
There were no injuries resulting from the fire and the cause of the blaze is unknown at this time. As of Friday morning the beach still remains closed south of the pier due to dangers related to the debris entering the water from the burning structure.
The 1,954-foot Oceanside Pier is historic in that it was first built in 1888. It was subsequently destroyed five times over the years until it took its current form in 1987.
For San Diego surfers, the pier can form excellent sand bars on both its north and south sides. As a result, it has been the venue for numerous surfing events such as the Super Girl Pro and ISA World Juniors.
Initially, the smoke from the fire was visible on the live Surfline cameras, however, it appears the live feeds went offline shortly thereafter, possibly due to an overload in web traffic.
