Even 12 hours after final knockdown, parts of the wharf that burned a day and a half are still smoldering.
Getting at the last hotspots means dismantling the wharf.
"The fire got into the nooks and crannies of the structure," said Ray Gomez, a Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief. "It was very difficult for the boats to get at that."
It was the most stubborn harbor fire Gomez had ever battled. Knockdown Wednesday morning signaled a new phase of work. Firefighters pulled out charred debris and mopped up hotspots deep inside the creosote-soaked timbers.
"Literaly we have to take the wharf apart to make sure the fire is out," Gomez said. "Right now we're cutting into the asphalt to get to the wood part."
Despite the extent of the fire damage, pilings remained in place, but most of wharf will have to be dismantled.
The fire damage extends under the warehouse.
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Divers positioned hose lines under the wharf exiting the water.
Al Serpa, a fire department dive team supervisor, said all the nooks and crannies of construction made the fire difficult to put out.
Fire Capt. Eric Anderson said firefighters learned there were 18 inches of asphalt between where they were operating and the fire.
Monday's fire was ignited accidentally by welding. So called "hot work" requires special precautions that may not have been taken.
"I'm not sure what happened, but that wasn't done," Gomez said, "bcause that's how the fire happened."
Except at the burned wharf. Cargo operations have now resumed throughout the port.
Large barges could be seen navigating down the channel past the burned zone.
How much of the burned area will need to be replaced with has yet to be determined.
The fire raged on the underside of an old wooden wharf. It shut all container terminals at the Port of Los Angeles and several in adjacent Long Beach harbor because of worries about unhealthy smoke.
Concern about the plume from burning creosote-preserved timber in the pre-World War II wharf also triggered a precautionary evacuation of a port-area elementary school and advice to residents to stay indoors.
