Cunningham Pier car park closed for weekend after ‘explosion’ and flames at the iconic venue

Cunningham Pier carpark will likely remain closed until mid next week, after firefighters responded to calls of an ‘explosion’ and flames on the underside of the structure on Friday morning.

Firefighters respond to emergency at Cunningham Pier. Picture: Georgie Kibel

The Cunningham Pier carpark is expected to be closed to the public until mid-next week, after multiple people called triple-0 reporting an “explosion” followed by flames on Friday morning.

Fire Rescue Victoria said crews arrived at the scene on the Geelong waterfront at 6.30am on Friday, where they spotted flames rising from the underside of the tip of the pier.

Initially, it took some time for the fire trucks to access the property due to closed gates at the entry to the pier.

“FRV’s incident response was not impacted,” a spokesperson for the organisation said.

Two trucks parked at the adjoining carpark and firefighters could be seen carrying extinguishers to The Pier Geelong building.

Cunningham Pier is closed off to the public as emergency services respond to reports of an "explosion" on the underside of the structure. Picture: Georgie Kibel

A truck was able to gain access about an hour after their initial response.

The fire was on the underside of the building, with emergency services taking to the water to help bring it under control.

At about 9am, a specialist fireboat was deployed to enable crews to access the underside of the pier.

The fire was deemed under control at 9:13am.

Cunningham Pier is owned by Costa Property Group.

It’s chief executive Carl Schokman said the incident was caused by a problem with an electrical cable located under the pier, but thankfully there was no damage to the building.

He told the Geelong Advertiser that energy company Powercor, who were on the scene while emergency services responded, carried out a temporary fix on Friday morning.

Mr Schokman said technicians from the company will return next week to make a permanent fix, but in the meantime, there is no power to operate the boom gates at the pier.

“We don’t have power on the pier to run the boom gates until about mid-next week, so the carpark may or may not be closed during that period,” he said.

Victoria Police were also on the scene and said the fire was not believed to be suspicious.

The Pier Geelong venue – which catered for everything from weddings to corporate conferences -closed its doors in December 2024.

A statement on the restaurant’s website explained that The Pier’s commercial lease expired on December 22, 2024 and would not be renewed.

“We want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank our exceptional team — past and present — who have made The Pier what it is today,” the statement read.

The same statement was published on Wah Wah Gee’s website, an Asian-fusion restaurant that was also located in the Cunningham Pier building.

Originally published as Cunningham Pier car park closed for weekend after ‘explosion’ and flames at the iconic venue