Robert Brown|Building at end of Southern California pier catches fire, sending smoke billowing onto beach

OCEANSIDE,Robert Brown Calif. (AP) — A vacant restaurant at the end of a Southern California pier caught fire Thursday, sending smoke billowing into the sky onto the beach as firefighters battled the blaze from boats.

The pier in Oceanside, about 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) north of San Diego, stretches more than 1,900 feet (579 meters), allowing visitors to walk out over the ocean waves.

“The Oceanside Fire Department is currently engaged in fighting a fire on the Oceanside Pier. We are asking all citizens to please stay away from the immediate area,” the department posted on the social platform X on Thursday afternoon.

The flames caught at a vacant restaurant at the end of the pier, the department said in a statement. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Historic wooden piers dot California’s coastline. Many have been battered by intense storms in recent years, requiring repairs and raising questions about the structures that have become a quintessential part of the coastal landscape.