Removal of the charred timbers at the end of the Oceanside Pier has been slow to start, but should begin in a week or so under a contract for up to $1.3 million approved Wednesday by the Oceanside City Council. The popular Super Girl Pro event held the weekend of Sept. 20-22, the need for numerous permits and the ongoing fire investigation have delayed the process. Officials will get a better look at the remains of the buildings after demolition begins and should be able to complete their report on the cause of the blaze, City Engineer Brian Thomas said. Permits for the work are required from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the California Coastal Commission, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. Also needed was the city’s approval of plans for a scaffold system to be built beneath the pier, Thomas said. The scaffold is for workers’ safety and to prevent any potentially toxic debris from falling into the ocean. Fire officials have said old wiring beneath the deck planks appears to have started the blaze, although the cause remains unofficial. The blackened skeleton of a former Ruby’s restaurant and a separate Brine Box seafood take-out kiosk have been visible since the April 25 fire that sent a thick column of black smoke east over the pier and much of the city. A widely praised quick response by emergency workers from across the county limited the damage to the wider, western section known as the hammerhead. However, the blaze continued to smolder for days in the thick, preservative-soaked planks before it was finally extinguished. Along with the two buildings, the fire destroyed a large portion of the deck planking and the wood safety rails engraved with names of donors who helped fund the pier’s construction in the 1980s. The city has records of all donors’ names and expects to replace those lost to the fire, City Clerk Zeb Navarro said. “We also have the original applications that people submitted to have their names engraved,” Navarro said. The city solicited bids from seven different contractors and met in person with several of them. Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc., a company that previously did maintenance and improvements on the Oceanside Pier, submitted the only bid. Jilk also has worked on other ocean piers and built more than 50 railroad bridges in Southern California. One other company, Manson Construction, sent a letter saying it did not have the resources needed for the work. Manson is the company that dredges the Oceanside Harbor entrance under a contract with the Corps of Engineers most years. No schedule has been set for when the pier might be repaired. City officials say construction could cost more than $17 million and is still two or three years away. The city is taking $1 million from its self-funded Prism insurance pool to pay for the demolition, with the rest of the money to come from reserves in the city’s infrastructure account. No money is available for the future repair work, although the ongoing investigation will help determine how much is covered by insurance. The damaged end of the nearly 2,000-foot-long pier has been fenced off since the fire, but most of the Oceanside icon is open for foot traffic. It is expected to remain open during most of the demolition except for a few hours at a time to move equipment.