Large fire destroys Fleetwood Pier buildings

A large fire has destroyed the buildings on an Edwardian pier on the Lancashire coast, emergency services said yesterday.

Ten fire engines and 70 firefighters attended the blaze at Fleetwood Pier before bringing it under control.

The 150-metre-long pier had been disused for 12 months and there were no casualties reported.

The fire is believed to have broken out at around 4.30 p.m. in a pub-cafeteria at the pier's shore end, a mouthpiece for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service told Reuters from the scene.

"All the buildings on top of the pier have been destroyed," she said. "The concrete structure that is holding the pier up is still in place, it hasn't collapsed. But it certainly looks fairly miserable from here."

Fire investigators are working with police to establish the cause of the blaze. The pier opened at the seaside resort of Fleetwood in 1910. It was rebuilt in 1953 after it was nearly destroyed by a fire the year before.

In July, fire destroyed the 104-year-old pier at the Somerset resort of Weston-super-Mare, while part of Southend Pier was gutted by a fire in 2005.