Large blaze consumes vacant restaurant on end of Oceanside pier

A helicopter drops water as fire crews fight a fire burning at the end of the Oceanside Municipal Pier in Oceanside on Thursday. (Hayne Palmour IV/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The blaze was reported shortly after 3 p.m. at the building that formerly housed Ruby’s Diner and sent up a plume of smoke that could be seen for miles

by Teri Figueroa, Phil Diehl and Karen Kucher
April 25, 2024

OCEANSIDE — Fire tore through a vacant restaurant at the end of Oceanside Municipal Pier Thursday afternoon, and crews were continuing to battle flames three hours on.
Lifeguards spotted the fire just after 3 p.m. at the building that had once housed Ruby’s Diner. Images quickly shared on social media showed a large black plume of smoke rising above the end of the iconic pier.

Three hours later, crews had stopped the fire’s forward progress, but it was still burning, primary underneath the pier, Oceanside Fire Department Chief David Parsons said.

No injuries were reported, and the employees from the nearby bait shop and Brine Box restaurant were all accounted for.

Most of the damage appears to be contained to the “hammerhead” shape at the end of the pier and stretching about 15 feet down the walkway toward the shore, the fire chief said.

Parsons said the fire was “an all-hands on deck” situation.

“We have thrown a lot of resources at this,” Parsons said. “The pier is a very special place for us.”

Oceanside firefighters were on scene within minutes, soon followed by crews from Vista, Carlsbad and several other agencies. Cal Fire and San Diego Gas & Electric helicopters dropped water from above, and the Coast Guard sent a cutter to douse water from underneath. On the ground, fire crews pulled hoses down the 1,954-foot-long pier.

The fire also badly damaged the Brine Box, a fresh fish shack located near the end of the pier next to the former Ruby’s site.

“We do not know where the fire started,” said Jessica Waite, who operates Brine Box, “What I hear is it was underneath the pier.”

She said the two or three Brine Box employees working at the time were able to get away safely when the fire broke out.

“It was really scary for our team and for our chef,” she said. “I do know that everybody is safe.”

About 90 minutes after the fire was reported, white smoke began to replaced the black smoke — but it remained so thick that the end of the pier was obscured from view. Parsons said onshore winds pushed smoke from the end of the pier toward the shore.

The site of smoke drew longtime residents Richard and Karen Sonayda from their home about a mile from the pier.

“I’m devastated right now,” Richard Sonayda said. “I surfed and fished on the pier when I was a little boy.”

“This is our home,” Karen Sonayda added.

One user on X, formerly called Twitter, recalled taking trips to Oceanside to eat at the iconic restaurant. “I remember how it would rock and sway with the waves,” the user wrote. “Totally trippy experience but cool.”

Oceanside has had a pier along the shoreline since 1888. The one there now is the sixth version, built in 1986 to replace one destroyed by storms.

“This is a very, very critical pier for us,” Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez said at a press briefing. “It’s iconic for Oceanside.”

She said this was the first fire of this size to hit the pier.

The fire comes with Memorial Day — seen as the unofficial start of summer — less than a month away, and the pier is a star attraction for Oceanside. Parsons said its not clear when it will reopen to the public because it will need to be evaluated by a structural engineer.

The concrete and steel access ramp known as the Pier View Way Bridge has been there since 1927. There are plans in the works to replace the bridge and the lifeguard headquarters underneath the pier, but that $40 million project is several years off.

For 25 years, Ruby’s Diner sat at the end of the pier, but it was reduced to takeout only when the pandemic hit in March 2020.