Will a new West Pier rise from the ashes at last?

Lawrence Marzouk reveals never-released coastguard documents from that fateful day and looks at whether a new pier will rise again from the wreckage.

For five years it has stood as a stark iron skeleton rising ominously from the sea.

To some, the fire of March 28, 2003 left a sculpture of unworldly beauty when set against a golden evening glow.

Others believe the charred remains symbolise the city's inability to make the leap from drawing board to reality.

A plan to replace the Victorian structure with a modern pier has now emerged, giving hope that the thousands clustered on the beach to watch the theatre ablaze were not witnessing the show to end the pier.

That spring day, developers St Mowden were meeting the city council to finalise details of the restoration project and bring life back to the pier, derelict since 1975.

The West Pier Trust had finally negotiated most of the administrative chicanes - English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund had pledged to fund a restoration project and the council had agreed to planning permission.

Work was expected to start in early 2004 and finish by November 2005.

But the storms and fires of 2003 finally ended the 30-year struggle to restore the country's only Grade I-listed pier to its former beauty.

On the morning of March 28, 2003, thousands of birds which had made the derelict pier home took flight as a plume of white smoke snaked into the sky.

Although many witnesses reported seeing smoke from 8.30am, the first 999 call was not made to East Sussex Fire Brigade until 9.46am.

A man on a mobile phone reported smoke "coming out of the left hand side of the old pier".

As fire crews scrambled, the blaze took hold and calls flooded in. Brighton and Shoreham lifeboats headed for the pier, along with the coastguard.

For the first time, The Argus can reveal the coastguard's internal report of the dramatic day, released under the Freedom of Information Act.

From the first call at 9.50am to signing off at 3.20pm, the document details how coastguard helicopters and boats, lifeboats, police, firefighters and fisheries vessels desperately tried to save the pier, but the heat, low tide and underwater obstructions made this impossible.

The frustration felt by the 40 beached firefighters was tangible.

As news of the fire spread through the city, thousands stopped to watch, bringing traffic on the seafront to a halt.

Such a crowd had not assembled to watch a West Pier spectacle since the days when comedian Max Miller packed out the theatre.

Onlookers brought sandwiches for the excursion and others settled with a pint to watch the display with guilty pleasure.

Matt Rivers, assistant manager at The Fortune of War seafront pub, said the beach was packed.

He said: "I remember somebody coming in saying I think the pier is on fire' and we went outside and there was so much smoke.

"People were awestruck but it was sad to see the relics being burnt.

"The smoke was green and yellow, mostly to do with the bird muck and paint. It was quite toxic."

At 10.20am, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service radioed to the coastguard revealing that a black speed boat had been spotted racing away from the pier just before the fire started.

By 11am, security staff at Brighton Marina were being quizzed and the register of boats was pored over.

Engulfed But later that evening police traced the owners from CCTV footage, discovering that the boat's occupants were sightseers.

Lifeboats in the meantime were busy turning away small boats from the seaward end of the pier.

Adam Trimingham, former reporter at The Argus, who covered the story that day, said: "I had just got to the beach and it was smouldering.

"I could tell it was going to go up in five minutes - it had always been a fire risk.

"It was a huge fire which engulfed the pier and the black smoke could be smelt everywhere. All the hope was burnt away that day and we knew it was the end of the story.

"There had been an incredible affection for the West Pier.

"The firefighters just stood on the beach knowing there was nothing they could do. They must have felt awfully frustrated.

"If there had been action in the 1970s it would probably be here today. It was incredibly sad."

The roar of the blaze was punctuated by the sound of masonry and burning wood crashing down and debris spread for miles around Brighton, leading to a number of alerts to passing vessels.

According to the coastguard log, police reported a suspect swimming out to sea at 10.32am.

A few minutes later he was plucked out of the Channel by crew on a lifeboat.

The report reads: "It would appear that he was trying to get out far enough so that he could take photographs with the camera which was slung around his neck."

Four firefighters used pumps on a tug to dampen the red-hot structure in a bid to prevent it buckling and falling into the sea.

By noon, the flames had begun to die down and the ghostly remains gave out an orange glow.

In a bid to mark the majestic pier's destruction, Giuseppe Colasurdo had flung open the windows of Alfresco's restaurant and played Pavarotti's Nessum Dorma at full volume.

As the wind direction changed midafternoon, the fire picked up again and the west kiosk, once a clairvoyant's booth, was engulfed in flames.

The seafront became covered in a thin blanket of smoke.

As dusk fell, debris from the fire drifted out to sea and souvenir hunters started to arrive on the beach.

Meanwhile, demonstrators handed out leaflets against the Iraq war, which had started just days before.

In a strange twist, The Argus received a letter from a man calling himself Piers Burns who claimed he set fire to the pier as a protest against the Iraq war. This, like all other theories, led to a dead end.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable Graham Cox, who was a superintendent at the time, said: "We always suspected that its ignition was not an accident - it is difficult to imagine how that could have happened.

"There was a sense of sadness - anyone who has been in Brighton a long time felt the same.

"It was always going to be a difficult investigation and we knew it was going to be hard to get to the bottom of it.

"There were a lot of conspiracy theories but all lacked any evidence.

"My hope is that five years on we will have something that replaces it. A modern pier would be fantastic."

Later in the evening of March 28, security guards were deployed around the pier's entrance to keep the public away as a safety precaution.

The coastguard incident log ends with the words: "The pier at this time was just a pile of twisted metal."

Following another fire on May 11, hope of St Mowden's restoration plan lay in tatters.

The West Pier Trust has since concentrated much of its efforts on the construction of the i360, dubbed the Brighton Eye.

The 172m-high needle with an ascending and descending circular viewing platform will be built at the foot of the wrecked West Pier.

Like so many projects in the city, construction work has been hit by various delays and a new start date is expected this summer.

But behind the scenes, designs for a modern West Pier are being drawn up.

The West Pier Trust is in negotiations with a company which wants to build a new attraction on the site of the current structure's remains.

The plans will feature a modern design and include a rebuild of the famous concert hall which was the centrepiece of the original pier.

An exclusive hotel, restaurants and conference centre are among the options being looked at for the development.

Architects are already drawing up plans for the scheme.

This project has been held up by the i360 and firm details of the proposal are not expected to be released until work starts on the needle.

Geoff Lockwood, chief executive of the West Pier Trust, said: "My first reaction after the fire was of suspicion.

"It was sad that it had gone but I was not overly concerned about the prospects of restoration after that fire.

The second fire was the most serious.

"Everyone involved agrees that we have to get the i360 scheme under way before work on the sea-based pier, so it is on hold for two or three months.

"We want the sea-based pier to be similar to i360 - contemporary and reflecting the heritage.

"It is not going to be for gambling or a funfair, which the West Pier never was."

Mr Trimingham, now a columnist with The Argus and a long-time supporter of the West Pier, added: "It will not be the old West Pier but in 1866 it was a pioneering design and we can have another pioneering pier today.

"Piers have had a bad time in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s but I think there is room in Brighton for two piers."

See The Argus on Wednesday for an eight-page photo supplement marking the fifth anniversary of the burning of the West Pier.