Eastbourne Pier on fire

[Richard]

just heard Eastbourne Pier is on fire - will go to beach and have a look !!

[Derek Jempson]

Just seen a BBC News video. It looks pretty bad - mostly affecting the part nearest to the promenade.

[Gerry Glyde]

Well at least Hastings has a slight advantage over Eastbourne for one time as Hastings pier is already in the process of being replaced

[Richard]

The main frontal part is totally wiped out by the look of it.

click image for larger picture.

[moonjiver]

I'm shocked and saddened by this, couldn't believe the headline at first. I was on the pier last summer, lovely quaint and very artistic decorations, the whole pier felt like strolling back into a more gracious age for a moment.

Is it the curse of south coast piers .. Brighton, Hastings, Eastbourne ..? At first sight it looks as if only the shore end has been damaged - hopefully it can and will be all restored
with proper respect for how it was before.

[Richard]

Yes, I think it could be sensitively restored, as it was well-preserved, unlike Hastings ofcourse, which I think looked like a "pig's ear" for "donkey's years".
I only hope the fire on poor old 'easy-prune' pier will remind the developers that the Hastings attempt at contemporary interpretation must be adequately fire-proof with the means to tackle any possible outbreak.

[moonjiver]

I have strong feelings about Hastings pier! A monument to bad municipal management. It should never have been sold, let alone to a Panamanian company who saw it merely as an investment opportunity. And the pier's final fate was completely preventable and unnecessary.. The fact the original subframe is still basically sound and reckoned to be capable of supporting a rebuilt superstructure shows that not much was really wrong except for some inevitable damage from the elements.

Some time after the pier closed and during the indecisive and overlong legal processes to regain control of the pier, the security guards were withdrawn - what better way to invite the tramps and vandals?! After the fire, guards were reinstated - to look after a ruin. Mindless.

I sincerely hope the new Trust will look after the revamped pier with with greater respect and an understanding for its importance than Hastings Council ever showed. Really, their long reluctance to get involved with Hastings pier was very blinkered. If there was an attractive and thriving pier with music and other events (some jetties for boat trips along the coast maybe too?), it would double the number of visitors to the town.

I'm sure in Eastbourne they will do a good job of restoring the damage, hopefully ste a lead

[moonjiver]

Whoops! My last line went on some journey of its own ..

Meant to just add that hopefully they'll set a good example in Eastbourne, inspire the people rebuilding Hastings pier to compete and create something wonderful.

[Geoff]

The images bring back so many memories of the night we lost our pier.

The thing to be learnt is build with sizeable breaks between the buildings. I think they would have lost the lot if it wasn't for the gaps - very lucky in my opinion.

Here's some pics of the aftermath, courtesy of the BBC

[Richard]

Yes, the gaps on Eastbourne Pier, in all probability, acted as a fortuitous fire-break, and in the case of Hastings, where the fire was 'accidentally on purpose' started, at the seaward end of the pier, the 'Fire Brigade' were refused permission by their commander (after fire crews inspected the initially small Hastings' fire on foot) from driving their fire tenders along the structure of the pier to reach the fire directly as the superstructure of the pier was quickly declared unsafe.
And perhaps there were also obstacles of a physical nature in the path of vehicles.
If these two scenarios were not the case then the fire could have been put out in a matter of minutes.


I presume that Piers (from the Victorian age) were not planned with direct access for fire crews to drive along.
Perhaps Eastbourne Pier also did not have a direct path that vehicles could have followed, but luckily they did not have to cross that problem as the fire was immediately accessible and yet the damage was still pretty extensive.

Luck, rather than good planning, was a major factor, in the case of Eastbourne.
Lessons to be learned as implied by Geoff !!