THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080475
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: D1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940608 LENGTH: COLINGTON ISLAND
But 18 hours after the center section of the bridge was accidentally set fire by flames from a blowtorch as a construction workers was dismantling the old wooden bridge, watermen were able to pass beneath the burned span.
{REST} And inspectors said the new parallel bridge between Kill Devil Hills and the island was not damaged.
``There's a little bit of soot on the handrail. That's about the extent of the damage to the new bridge,'' said English Construction project manager Lawrence Jones, whose Lynchburg, Va., company is doing the work for the N.C. Department of Transportation.
``We were going to tear down that old bridge anyway. So that's not a problem,'' Jones said. ``The job will just be a little bit more difficult for us now.''
Construction worker Harold Hill, 37, said he was trying to burn bolts off the old bridge across Colington Creek Monday afternoon when the wind caught flames from his blowtorch. The wooden timbers were treated with creosote, which caused them to burn rapidly. Within 15 minutes, the entire 530-foot long span was engulfed in flames.
Police closed Colington Road - the busiest secondary road in northeastern North Carolina and the only access to the island - for about three hours Monday evening. Hundreds of the island's 3,500 residents were stranded on their way home from work. And fire fighters fought the flames from boats, chin-deep water and a crane.
Volunteers and professionals from seven Outer Banks companies battled the blaze through the night. At daybreak Tuesday, local watermen turned their crab boats into barges and began hauling timbers out of the creek. Construction workers encircled the remaining debris with a 1,000-foot plastic yellow boom.
``Two sections of the old bridge collapsed completely into the water,'' Jones said, pointing to a 50-foot hole in the center of the span. ``There's some stuff still in there. But they've hauled three or four boatloads out already and we'll get the rest out today. We're going to dismantle the rest of the old bridge piece by piece, with a crane. We really gotta be careful not to get anything else in the water.''
Workers had planned to tear the bridge down from the center, moving out toward each end. Monday's fire weakened the entire structure, however, making it unable to bear any weight. So now crews are going to have to lift the old bridge out from above. Barges will be placed beneath the span to catch any falling debris. And the new bridge will remain open throughout the process.
``We're going to leave it so boats can get through the channel at all times, too,'' Jones said. ``We'll be back on track with this in a week. And we'll still be able to finish the entire Colington bridge project by our October deadline.''
{KEYWORDS} FIRE
by CNB