NHFD photo
The last 20 feet or so of the Long Wharf pier are closed to the public following a fire that occurred there Wednesday afternoon.
The fire began at the water end of the pier around 2:25 p.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin.
He said nobody was on the pier at the time. It took about 15 fireghters about a half hour to extinguish the flames. Much of the work was done by the crew on the Nathan Hale fireboat (formerly known as the Sally Lee). No injuries were reported.
Investigators have just begun the work of determining the cause of the fire, which ended up spreading about 10 – 12 feet along the pier, according to Coughlin.
“That’s heavy timber. It’s treated with creosote. A lot of the spindles have been burnt away. As for right now structurally it’s still in pretty good shape,” Coughlin said.
Spontaneous combustion???