Cause of Fatal Morro Bay Pier Fire Investigated
Blackened boats remained docked at the scorched pilings of an oil-soaked pier Friday as officials probed the cause of a blaze that killed one man and destroyed at least 11 boats and two cars.
Divers checked for structural damage under the pier, while police, fire and harbor officials spent the day cataloguing the damage and looking for clues to the origin of the fire, city employees said.
“They still have two fire engines down there, just in case,” said Susan Lichtenbaum, an office assistant in the city’s Harbor Department.
No damage estimate was immediately available for the fire, which was reported at 6:15 a.m. Thursday on the T Pier, 175 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The dead man was identified Friday as George Bailey Little III, 69, who was asleep on his 50-foot sailboat when the blaze caught him, said Shari Baudendistle, a Police Department dispatcher.
Two other fire victims remained hospitalized.
Naomi Griffin, 78, of Morro Bay was listed in critical condition after nearly drowning when she jumped off a boat to escape the flames, said a nursing supervisor at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.
Henry Pederson, 70, of Morro Bay was under observation and listed in stable condition after he apparently jumped as well, she said.
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