Demolition of the burned buildings at the end of the Oceanside Pier will continue through the end of this year, a city official said Wednesday. Fire damage to the deck planking was more extensive than first thought, so all the planking from the wider, hammerhead section at the end of the pier will have to be removed, City Engineer Brian Thomas said Wednesday. “We’re finding new things every day,” Thomas said, during a visit to the worksite Wednesday morning. “We discovered Monday that some of the floor supports we thought were fine just aren’t there anymore,” Thomas said. Workers on Wednesday were using gas torches to cut and remove the steel beams of the “moment frame” assembly that held up the roof of the restaurant building. The charred metal frame has stood like a skeleton of the former structure since the April 25 fire. The removal of the steel support structure raises new concerns that, without its tension, additional parts of the building or the pier could collapse, Thomas said, and work will proceed cautiously to avoid that. Construction crew members set up scaffolding under the Oceanside pier as workers begin demolishing the burned structures on Wednesday. (Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) From 12 to 20 employees of the contractor, Jilk Heavy Construction, will be on the job from about 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until it’s finished, he said. No work will be done on weekends, and public access to most of the pier will remain open throughout the job. Trucks will take debris removed from the pier to a holding area at a nearby parking lot, where the material will be sorted for any recyclables. Each truck will have a spotter in front and behind as it travels past people on the pier. While the demolition should be finished in December, it probably will be another three years before the end of the pier is repaired and open to visitors, Thomas said. When the hammerhead does reopen, it will have no restaurant. The lease-holder plans to rebuild, Thomas said; however, that will take at least another year of planning before construction begins. The demolition will cost about $1.3 million and the city has allocated the money for it. The repairs to the deck, railing and support structures, excluding any new buildings, could cost something within the wide range of $3 million to $20 million, Thomas said. Anything done on the pier requires the approval of numerous agencies and each one has its own requirements, from building codes to environmental monitoring. Every requirement adds time and money to the project, he said. U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and other elected officials have said they will help the city find the money needed for repairs. Old wiring beneath the deck planks appears to have started the blaze, fire officials have said, although the cause remains unofficial. Experts at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting the Oceanside Fire Department to determine the official cause, and their report is expected soon. The restaurant, a former Ruby’s Diner that closed in 2020, and The Brine Box, a small, take-out seafood shop, were destroyed. More than 90% of the pier was saved by a widely praised, quick response from the Oceanside Fire Department and other fire departments, lifeguards and emergency responders from across the region. Assistance included a U.S. Coast Guard cutter from San Diego, an SDG&E firefighting helicopter, and a firefighting boat from Manson Construction Co., which was dredging the nearby harbor. Despite the rapid response, the fire continued to smolder for days in the thick, hard-to-reach timbers. A construction crew begins demolishing the burned structures at the end of the Oceanside Pier on Wednesday. (Hayne Palmour IV / For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Oceanside has had a pier along its shoreline since 1888. The one there now is the sixth version, built in 1986 to replace one destroyed by storms. Last year, the city wrapped up a $5.6 million upgrade to install new lines to the end of the pier for potable water, wastewater, electricity and communications. The concrete-and-steel access ramp known as the Pier View Way Bridge that connects Pacific Street to the pier has been there since 1927. Plans are underway to replace the bridge and the lifeguard headquarters building beneath it, but that $40 million project is several years off.