By Edwin B. Stegman
Southern California faces a substantial risk of a disaster approaching the magnitude of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center calamity — not by terrorists, but by the negligence and lack of foresight of public officials.
If the wooden Santa Monica Pier ignites, as many as 6,000 people could be trapped in the flames, because there is no way to evacuate them from the ocean end. If the fire breaks out west of the Boathouse restaurant, the only escape would be to get over a 3 1/2-foot fence and jump 20 to 25 feet onto the sand or into the ocean. Most people could not do that.
The pier could burn rapidly. A restaurant kitchen or automobile could catch fire and ignite the flammable pier. There could be an electrical fire. Arson is always a threat. The pier is a potential fire trap.
In 1924, the Venice Pier burned up completely. In 1929, the Ocean Park Pier burned down into the water, and in 1988, 500 feet of the Redondo Beach Pier was destroyed by fire.
On July 4 2000, at 1 a.m., there was an all night gun fight between police and a felon at the Arcade on the pier. About 100 people were trapped at the end of the pier within range of the gunfire until 7 a.m. Harbor Patrol, Los Angeles County Fire Department, lifeguard, sheriff and Coast Guard boats were nearby and available for rescue, yet the 100 people were not evacuated. They were trapped there for six hours because there were no stairs down to a boat landing at the ocean end of the pier. There was no way to get people to the boats.
The widely publicized Independence Day incident should have alerted the fire department to the problem, but it didn't. The department failed to act. Perhaps, like the Santa Monica Police Department, it is underfunded and understaffed.
According to SMPD Lt. Gary Gallinot, at times there are as many as 12,000 people on the Santa Monica Pier and 5,000 to 6,000 men, women and children west of the Boathouse, at mid-pier. Yet there is no emergency exit at the end of the pier.
There is a 10-12 foot almost vertical ladder to a boat landing at the end of the pier. Seniors, the handicapped, most women and small children could not climb down that ladder. There is a hoist to lower small boats from the pier to the water. In any case, it would take many hours to evacuate athletic individuals down that one ladder, or others with the hoist.
With roaring flames advancing, panic would ensue and people would be trampled trying to get to the ladder or the boat hoist.
The lower deck of the pier is 15 to 22 feet above the water, depending on the tide. Some could climb over a 3 1/2 foot fence and survive a jump into the ocean or a 20-foot drop onto the sand. The elderly, the handicapped, the obese, many women, non-swimmers and children would perish.
Laws and fire department regulations require emergency exits for apartment houses, office buildings, theaters and other places of public assembly. Why not for the pier? Why hasn't the fire department required an emergency exit?
Disasters occur because government officials and corporate executives lack foresight, or when they foresee a potential catastrophe, are unwilling to take preventive action.
I urge the city or the Pier Restoration Corp. to build a stairway to the boat landing as an emergency exit in case of fire, explosion, earthquake or another gun battle.
For a first-hand appreciation of this death trap, visit the end of the pier and look down at the water and think about how you would like to jump, or drop your children, 15 to 22 feet into the cold, deep, dark, restless ocean. (Edwin B. Stegman, an attorney, resides in Santa Monica.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 24, 2002. Read the original PDF.