Seal Beach Pier Damage Exceeds Fears, City Says

Damage to the Seal Beach Pier from a fire on Saturday is worse than originally thought and exceeds the damage caused by a similar blaze two years ago, city officials said Monday.

They estimated that the fire caused at least $350,000 in damage and might have burned several important pilings that help support the historic wood pier.

“It really did a number. It burned a lot of wood,” Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings said. “This fire was more devastating because it burned from the bottom of the pier to the top. In 1992, the fire burned from the top and the sides down into the pier.”

Still, the pier could be repaired temporarily and reopened within a few weeks if engineers conclude that the boardwalk is structurally secure.

City leaders spent Monday working with county fire investigators, a city-hired consulting firm and Southern California Edison Co. trying to determine what sparked the blaze.

City Manager Jerry L. Bankston said the fire was probably caused by a small explosion under the pier, perhaps an arc of electricity.

Officials will spend the next few days closely examining the electrical system, which consists mainly of copper wiring that powers lamps along the boardwalk and high-voltage conduit that supplies power to the Ruby’s restaurant at the end of the pier. Investigators and electrical experts suspect that only high-voltage wires could cause such an intense blaze.

The examination is design to find out whether the entire system is faulty or if just a portion of it needs to be repaired, Bankston said.

“We want to assure the public that everything is being done to modify the electrical system if that is what is needed,” he said.

An investigation into the 1992 fire--which, like Saturday’s, occurred in the middle of the pier--failed to find a precise cause. The investigation did determine that a ruptured gas line and a breached electrical line under the pier contributed to the blaze, Bankston said.

Investigators doubt any sort of gas leak was involved in Saturday’s fire, which temporarily trapped more than 100 people at the end of the pier.

Some beachside residents who witnessed the 1992 fire said that Saturday’s blaze seemed less severe because they saw fewer flames and less smoke. But a close examination of the pier by city and fire officials detected greater damage to the wood supports.

The latest fire charred a slightly smaller area than the 1992 blaze but was significantly more intense, Bankston said.

City officials hope to determine later this week how extensive a repair effort is needed. Bankston said the damage could top $450,000 if many wood pilings must be replaced.

The city might consider making temporary repairs to the pier so that it could reopen within 10 days. Then, after the busy summer tourist season, it would be closed while permanent repairs are completed.

“This shouldn’t have happened twice,” Mayor George Brown said. “We are going to make sure it doesn’t happen a third time.”

The damage is covered by insurance, but the city must pay a $100,000 deductible, just as it did after the 1992 fire, which caused about $180,000 in damage.

The city has faced severe fiscal problems in the past few years and had to raise the utility tax last year to close a budget shortfall. Before the fire, Bankston said he planned to propose a 1994-95 budget that began to rebuild the city’s reserves. That process might have to delayed by a year.