Southend Pier

[Guest guest]

I wonder if it is owned by the same company that owns Brighton pier?

 

Southend Pier devastated by blaze

 

The buildings on the pier have collapsed into the sea

 

 

Fire at Southend

A fire has destroyed the world's longest pier in what may have been

an arson attack, the fire service said.

Firemen are still tackling the blaze, discovered at a pub on Southend

Pier, Essex, late on Sunday night. Flames were seen to leap 30 feet

into the air.

 

The pier's wooden floor has collapsed, taking with it the remains of

the Jolly Fisherman pub, a rail station and other buildings into the

sea.

 

The iron structure remains intact and no-one has been reported as

injured.

 

Eyewitness Dave Watts told the BBC News website that the main

entertainment area of the pier had been " devastated " .

 

At its height, about 60 firefighters fought to control the blaze.

 

An Sea King helicopter was scrambled from Wattisham Airfield in

Suffolk to see if anyone was in the water, and Thames Coastguard

launched a search and rescue operation as a precaution.

 

There had been fears for some anglers who were unaccounted for, but

they have all been located.

 

'Raging blaze'

 

Mr Watts, a cab driver, said he could see from the shore that the

fire was " absolutely huge " .

 

" The main entertainment area seems to have been totally destroyed.

The fire was raging - it was very bad, " he said.

 

The fire service confirmed no-one was missing from the pier.

 

Station Officer Dave Moore said: " It's quite a severe fire.

 

" At the moment we're treating it as suspicious but that's only as a

cautionary action until an investigation proves otherwise. "

 

He added the flames had looked " quite spectacular " from land, leaping

30 to 40 ft (9.14 to 12.2m) into the air.

 

However, Mr Moore added that the flames had now " died right back " .

 

" Now it's just an orange glow, " he said. " But it will be daylight

before we can make a full attack because we are having to rely on our

generators which give limited light.

 

" And because the floor has burned away we've got to be very careful

where firefighters go - we don't want them to end up in the Thames. "

 

Pier disasters

 

There are a number of buildings at the end of the pier, including the

pub, fast food restaurants and a newly-built lifeboat station.

 

It is thought the lifeboat station has survived.

 

At 1.34 miles (2.16km), Southend Pier is the longest pleasure pier in

the world. It opened in 1889, with extensions added in 1898, 1908 and

1929.

 

It has suffered a number of disasters in the past. In 1959 a major

fire destroyed the Pier Pavilion at the shore end of the pier. This

was replaced by a ten-pin bowling alley which opened in 1962.

 

The bowling alley was itself destroyed by a fire in 1995.

 

In 1976, the pier suffered another major fire which destroyed much of

the area that had opened in 1908.

 

Former Southend MP Sir Teddy Taylor told BBC Five Live: " " It's sad

because its one of the great assets we've got in Southend.

 

" It's a great place to walk down, it's a great opportunity for people

to enjoy themselves. But sadly it looks as though we're in for a

horrible business once again. "