GRAVESEND'S lifeboat crew was called into action north of the river to fight a blaze on Southend Pier.

The lifeboat and an RNLI hovercraft from Southend transported the firefighters from the shore to the end of the 1.25 mile-long pier to battle the flames.

Andrew Colley, Paul Frickey and Graham Tassell formed the team on the Gravesend lifeboat.

They were called out at 11pm on October 9.

The lifeboat was initially tasked to search for four fishermen who had been reported missing but it turned out they had left the pier earlier in the evening.

Police are investigating the cause of the blaze.