SEAL BEACH : Consultant Says Pier Structurally OK

Preliminary reports from a city-hired consultant indicated Tuesday that the Seal Beach Pier is structurally secure and that Saturday’s fire caused limited damage to the landmark’s massive vertical wood pilings, which hold the boardwalk over the water.

But the fire did burn some of the pier’s crossbeams and supports, many of which must be replaced at an estimated cost of $350,000. The pier, built in 1906, has been closed since the fire, which trapped people standing at the pier’s end. Nobody was injured.

City officials hope further engineering tests will confirm that the pilings were not seriously damaged. Replacing severely burned pilings could add $100,000 to the overall repair bill.

The city is set to decide on a pier rehabilitation plan within the next week, City Manager Jerry L. Bankston said.

One option is to make temporary repairs so the boardwalk can reopen during the busy summer tourist season. In the fall, the pier would be closed while permanent repairs are completed.

Another scenario calls for workers to repair damage from both Saturday’s fire and a 1992 pier blaze in one combined job. Bankston said the city wants to avoid opening the pier after one set of repairs is completed just to close it again a few weeks later for the second round of fixes.

Saturday’s fire was covered by insurance. But the city will have to pay a $100,000 insurance deductible--just as it did after the 1992 fire, which caused about $180,000 in losses.

The fire was the latest in a series of financial setbacks to hit the city in recent years. The city has lost more than $1 million in tax revenue from the state and must come up with as much as $500,000 to pay for a sand replenishment project for its eroded beaches.

Bankston estimated that the city has less than $100,000 in reserves to pay for unexpected expenses.

Seal Beach’s insurer will probably pay out a portion of the fire claim as repairs proceed rather than reimbursing the city when the job is completed. This will allow the city’s reserves to earn interest and will probably help the city avoid a cash shortage this summer, Bankston said.

City officials have also asked various state agencies and local legislators about possible grants or loans that Seal Beach could receive for the historic boardwalk, which is one of few wood piers in Southern California.

Meanwhile, fire investigators, a city-hired consulting firm and Southern California Edison continued Tuesday to study the pier’s electrical system in an effort to determine what caused the fire.

Investigators are focusing on a high-voltage conduit that runs beneath the pier from its base to a restaurant at the end of the boardwalk.