Newport Beach Police Are On The Hunt For Blackball Hating Pyromaniacs!

Presumably, a couple blackball hating pyros had a few cocktails, opted for a Molotov and lit the Wedge Lifeguard tower on fire last night. 

And it burnt to the sand. A truly strange act, but people are strange. No surprises there. 

Here’s how it went down, to our basic knowledge: On Thursday, June 20, at approximately 3:45am some hood rats crept onto the beach and torched the tower. All that was left was the charred skeleton of the ladder, a scorched tower base and blackened sand.

Surfline’s streaming surf cam caught the arsonist trying to start the fire multiple times before finally flaring the tower up. Unfortunately, the footage isn’t clear enough to identify a suspect.

Local Orange County news reports indicate that this particular tower was put in place in 2005 and was due to be replaced in the near future. An untold number of rescues and medical assists have been made there over the years, and serving in the Wedge tower was an honored right of passage for Newport lifeguards.

It’s likely whoever set the fire will get away with it. Which is unfortunate. 

Seriously, if there’s any wave in Southern California that needs a tower, it’s this one.