A hundred people used boats and the train which runs the length of the mile-and-a-quarter (2,145m) structure to escape.

Strong south-westerly winds fanned the flames, watched by thousands of holiday-makers on beaches on both sides of the Thames estuary this evening.

Firemen tackled the fire from tugs in the sea as well as from the pier itself.

Their efforts were hampered by the limited water supply at low tide and additional water was distributed from crop-spraying aircraft flying overhead.

Two firefighters were slightly injured as they struggled to control the blaze.

Initial reports suggest it started near a restaurant on the lower deck and damage looks likely to cost owners, Southend Council, more than �1m to repair.

An investigation into the causes of the fire will start tomorrow.

Pier of history

The pier has suffered fire before, in 1959, when a fire in the pavilion - at the shoreward end of the pier - trapped 300 people who had to be rescued by boat.

The two-level pierhead opened in July 1908 and the eastern Prince George Steamer Extension opened in 1929.

The pier was a popular feature of the Essex resort the Victorians called "Whitechapel-on-Sea" because of the number of east end Londoners who began to visit with the advent of rail travel.

During World War II the pier was taken over by the Admiralty and re-named HMS Leigh, to be used as a convoy assembly point.

The pier saw its heyday immediately after the war when the train carried nearly five million passengers in the 1949/50 season.

In 1970 the local council leased franchises for entertainments along the pier and the subsequent �250,000 investment regenerated it with restaurants, a cocktail bar, a nightclub and amusement arcade.

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