At 7:35 a.m. on Friday, a fire burned down a former Ruby Diner’s building located on the Seal Beach Pier, just southeast of Los Angeles.
Along with the powerful ocean wind, strong water cannons were blasted to extinguish the flames. All efforts were put in by 70 firefighters sent by several fire boats, which encircled the pier—four from the Long Beach Fire Department, two from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, one from Los Angeles City Fire Department, one U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat, and a Seal Beach Marine Safety boat.
The 2,000-foot long pier was built in the 1990s, and is considered the second-longest wooden structure in California. In 1906, Seal Beach had its first pier built near Main Street and Ocean Boulevard.
By 9 a.m., the blaze cooled down, but remnants of smoke still lingered in the air.
A firefighter was reported to have been injured in the midst of putting out the fire, and was immediately taken to the Los Alamitos Medical Center.
Resident John Domingue spoke to NBC, "It sort of puzzles me because there’s nothing out there to catch fire. There are buildings, but the electrical should have turned off. It’s been empty for three years, so who knows.”
It is still unknown on how the flame was started. OCFA and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigators are currently inspecting the area to figure out the root cause of the fire incident.
“The good news, it’s a small section of the pier and hopefully it will be open very soon,” said OCFA Captain Larry Kurtz.
The pier is shut down until further notice.
