It wasn’t just any ordinary lifeguard tower. The wooden tower at the Wedge was a place where lifeguards watch over one of — if not the — most dangerous waves along the Southern California coastline.

On the lifeguard tower that beared the initial “W,” a handful of names were inscribed on a plank of wood, memorializing those who lost their lives at the dangerous spot through the decades. Countless others have lifelong injuries, including spinal damage, from the steep drop that slams the hard shore.

But at about 3:45 a.m. Thursday morning, June 20, someone apparently set the tower on fire, destroying the lifeguard stand and leaving charred wood and black stains on the sand. The base and the ladder leading up to the tower still stood, before city workers tore it down as they cleaned up the damage.

A video on Surfline.com, a surf forecasting company that has live streams of the surf spot, shows someone in the dark of night making multiple attempts to set the tower on fire before a larger flame consumes it.

Robert Mansfield, a photographer who grew up in the area, came down early morning Thursday to survey the damage.

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“This is an iconic spot, not just for the locals but for the world,” said Mansfield, who said he’s witnessed thousands of rescues from guards who staff the tower. “The story is the tower is gone. The side story is, there’s a lot of history in this tower.”

Mansfield and friend Brandon Clark called out to city workers to try to salvage the burned plank with the names of the Wedge wave riders who have passed away, but were told it had to be hauled off to the city yard. LIfeguards asked fire department officials to attempt to salvage it.

“Everybody is asking about it,” Clark said.

The plank is especially important to Bart Evans. His nephew, Knox Tiernan, is a big-wave bodyboarder who died from an overdose in 2016, his name now inscribed on the wood.

Upon hearing about the fire and the workers hauling the wood away, Evans shot up to the city yard to retrieve the memorial, which also included names of other Wedge chargers such as Gene Peterson and Brad Honda, and lifeguard Ben Carlson, who died while in the line of duty not far up the coast.

“Knowing that my nephew’s name was etched on the Wedge tower, along with others who have touched our lives, I wanted to try and recover that piece of timber,” he posted on social media.

Evans met at the yard with the deputy director of public works, who he said understood the gravity of retrieving the wood and assured him it would be found. Newport Beach Lifeguard Chief Mike Halphide also searched for it.

Ultimately, the plank was retrieved and officials said it would be added to a new tower or, if too damaged, a replacement would be made.

“The idea that it could end up in a dump was a loss I was not willing to face,” Evans wrote.

It’s not the first time the Wedge tower has been destroyed, twice “swallowed” by the Wedge itself, according to Mel Thoman, a bodysurfer who preserves the Wedge’s history. The first time was in 1977 and the second was 1989. It also has been set on fire two other times, he said.

Halphide said the current tower had been at the location since 2005 and was nearing the end of its lifespan. Replacement cost is between $12,000 and $15,000, he said. Hundreds of dollars in equipment also was destroyed, including flags, signs and first-aid gear.

Newport Beach is one of the few agencies that has custom-built wood towers, though they are covered with fire retardant. The last lifeguard tower fire was about a decade ago.

The city has one old tower near the Santa Ana River that it was going to demolish because it was at the end of its lifespan, and may be able to use it as a temporary solution — but it still needs to be surveyed, Halphide said. “We’re not sure it’s going to survive the move down,” he said.

The fire comes at a challenging time, just before summer season launches this weekend. All the other towers will be occupied in anticipation of summer crowds.

“Clearly, we will need something to get our lifeguards to work out of,” Halphide said, noting they will staff a guard under a makeshift tent if needed.

Though lifeguards and wave riders at the Wedge sometimes disagree over blackball rules that limit board use during certain summer hours, Halphide said he doesn’t think the fire had anything to do with bad feelings between the groups.

“Our guards who work the Wedge are part of that community, they are well respected and well received,” he said. “It’s been very amicable.”

Halphide watched the Surfline video, at the Newport Beach Marine Safety Headquarters, which showed a shadow in the darkness, someone trying over and over to light the structure on fire. He said police and fire investigators are reviewing footage, as well as video from nearby homes.

Todd Roberts, out walking his dog Thursday morning, surveyed the damage, taking images of the remains before they were hauled off.

“It’s sucks, it’s pathetic. It’s not what Newport Beach is all about,” he said. “I don’t think one of the local surfers would do that, they respect them too much. They appreciate the lifeguards.”

Roberts said he knows, as summer approaches and the Wedge draws wave riders trying to take on the unruly beast, they’ll need lifesavers watching over them.

On any given summer day when a beefy south swell roars toward the coast and pumps waves up to 20-foot, occasionally bigger, lifeguards stay busy running from the tower, down the sand, and into the wild waves.

“It gets bad down here,” he said. “People need it.”