Century Old Structure once connected Vancouver with Richmond.
VANCOUVER, CANADA- Investigation is still ongoing to determine what caused a fire to destroy a more than century old bridge and an adjacent warehouse. The fire happened on Thursday at the Marpole Bridge, a multiple span wooden trestle bridge with a steel girder swing span that spanned the Fraser River connecting Vancouver with Richmond in the Province of British Columbia. The bridge was built in 1902 by Canadian Pacific Railways and was once an electrified railway providing passenger service from 1921 until 1958. It was a key railroad crossing to Lulu Island and had served freight traffic until its abandonment in 2006.
On Thursday night, fire broke out at a nearby warehouse, which eventually spread to the rail trestle. Black smoke rose from the fire, hindering traffic on the neighboring Oak Street Bridge, forcing its closure. It could be seen from the metropolitan area. Because chemicals were used to protect the wood, it took over half a day to extinguish the blaze and still some parts reignited during all of Friday and Saturday. A summary and video of the fire, courtesy of CTV, shows the extent of the fire. The fire degraded the air quality prompting an air quality alert for much of Thursday and into Saturday.
Once the blaze is completely out, work will begin shortly to remove the remains of the trestle and any adjacent debris from the river, before boat traffic can reopen again. The structure is considered a total loss. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but as it is rare that a fire could happen on a wooden trestle, combined with the fact that the structure and the railline had been vandalized in the past, which included a fire at the site in 2014, arson cannot be ruled out at this time.
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