The Quesnel Fire Department was called to the Fraser River Walking Bridge on Sunday (October 11) afternoon.
Fire Chief Ron Richert says the call came in as ‘an item’ fire at around 3 o’clock.
“Upon arrival, our duty officer had a shopping cart on fire and the fire had spread to some of the wood structure in that area. Good thing for some bystanders that were close by were able to extinguish most of the fire, and the fire department was able to conduct some fire suppression on some of the wood area around that fire.”
Richert says the location of the fire did pose a bit of a challenge for firefighters.
“The biggest thing was running hose lines because it was about halfway across the bridge right. You have to extend probably about 2 to 300 feet of hose line.”
Richert says the damage was mostly superficial, although he says some of the walking boards were compromised a bit with some burn.
He says the city will be doing an inspection on those followed by some repairs.
Richert says that is the first call he can remember that a fire was actually on the bridge.
He says they have had fires at each end.
Richert says the fire was definitely suspicious in nature and the RCMP is now involved.
He says there is video footage on the bridge that is being reviewed.
The walking bridge was constructed back in 1929 and was the only bridge separating the two sides for decades until the Moffat Bridge was built in 1971.
