Southend Pier devastated by blaze 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."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/4325430.stm
