Police said the fire had destroyed part of the end of the pier Firefighters are battling to control a fire which has broken out on Hastings Pier in East Sussex.
Police said the fire started shortly after 0100 BST and had reduced the ballroom at the end of the pier to “a burning framework”.
Ten fire engines are at the scene. Sussex Police said two people had been arrested in connection with the blaze.
Insp Lee Lyons said: “It has effectively destroyed the last couple of hundred feet of the pier.”
He added: “The fire brigade are working out how best to tackle it at the moment.”
The pier has been closed since 2006 because of fears it was unsafe.
Insp Lyons described it as a “significant fire” and said: “We came across it while out on patrol.
“There was a big plume of smoke and the last 200ft of the pier is pretty much ablaze and it’s spreading quite quickly towards the beach.
“The entire ballroom at the end is a burning framework with bits dropping off into the sea.”
A Sussex Police spokeswoman added: “They are spraying water at the front of it to try to prevent it from spreading.”
The pier has been closed since 2006 because of fears it was unsafe Road closures are in place on the A259 Eversfield Place in the White Rock area, police said.
On Monday it was announced that architects had been invited to submit designs for the redevelopment of the pier.
The Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust has set up a competition to develop it.
Earlier this year, Hastings Borough Council agreed to buy the pier with a compulsory purchase order and hand it to the trust.
The decision followed a study which showed it could be made safe for £3m.
Campaigners have been fighting to secure the pier’s future since it shut four years ago amid fears it could collapse.
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