Friday afternoon, On April 25, social media erupted into a frenzy as news and pictures spread of a fire at the popular surf spot Oceanside Pier in San Diego County, California. Dark smoke billowed into the sky from an empty restaurant (formerly Ruby's) at the end of the pier.
First reported around 3 p.m., firefighters and first responders arrived within minutes and battled the flames from air, water and the ship. According to Latest update Efforts are still underway by the city of Oceanside to fully extinguish the blaze, but firefighters who worked through the night believe most of the ship has been saved.
« Firefighting efforts have contained the fire to the west end of the pier, » the city of Oceanside said in a statement at 7 a.m. Friday. “Firefighters removed some planks from the vessel to allow fire access and to protect the rest of the vessel. Structures (vacant restaurant and small food service facility, The Brain Box) were heavily damaged. No further loss of Pierre is expected.
According to Oceanside Fire Department Chief David ParsonsAt one point it was feared that the entire pier would be lost.
No casualties were reported in the fire and the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. As of Friday morning, the beach was still closed south of the beach due to hazards related to debris entering the water from the burning system.
The 1,954-foot Oceanside Pier is historic, having been first built in 1888. It was later destroyed five times over the years until it took its current form in 1987.
For San Diego surfers, the pier can make excellent sand bars on both its north and south sides. As a result, it has been the venue for many surfing events such as the Supergirl Pro and the ISA World Juniors.
Initially, smoke from the fire was visible on Live Surfline cameras, however, the live feeds seem to have gone offline after a while, possibly due to heavy load on internet traffic.
