West Pier burning

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I was there one day taking pictures of hundreds of thousands of birds living there. The next day it was on fire. Very sad for everyone who ever went there.

I walked on the Pier at New Brighton, Christchurch, NZ, just after lunchtime today.

Nothing like this old lady, though, I'm afraid.

Regarding the birds that lived there before the fire, I'd say that a good number ot them will have roosted somewhere else that day, maybe for a few days, until the remains of that structure cooled down.

Then, maybe, some will return to roost where ever they could. Assuming there was anything left of it.

If they did not attempt to put it out there would be almost nothing left, and the pier decking would have burnt too.

Is there anything much left of the structure today, 2011? They may well have pulled it down, seeing that it would most likely be beyond salvage...

Regards, Peter, ChCh, NZ

Hello Peter. I understood at the time their was some government commitment to rehabilitate the place and some funds tied up in it. I was only visiting and never followed up but many people were very angry about the fire because they fought a hard fight to save it. A competing commercial pier a few hundred feet to the west of this one fought the renovation. Many suspicions about the fire were being discussed that day as most of the town came to watch it burn.