RED BRIDGE – Fire that destroyed historic crossing was ‘suspicious’
(Image: from Aaron Schulze, CFJC Today)
The Red Bridge is gone. All that’s left is to clean up the mess and investigate the cause.
RCMP remain at the scene, where a second fire in less than two days destroyed it this morning (Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024).
Around 3:25 a.m., Kamloops and Tk’emlúps Rural RCMP Detachment frontline officers were called to assist Kamloops Fire and Rescue at the bridge, which was fully engulfed by flames. While fire responders battled the blaze, the bridge collapsed.
“We are treating the incident as suspicious and note that this is the second fire to occur at the bridge in as many days,” said Supt. Jeff Pelley, the Kamloops RCMP detachment’s officer in charge.
“We are and will continue to work closely with our fire investigators and KFR partners to establish how the fire began and if criminality was involved. We’re asking residents who may have been in the area at the time to please reach out to police if they saw anything suspicious, and to please check their security and dash camera footage to see if anything was captured that could be related to this incident.”
The public is asked to avoid the area as firefighters continue to battle the fire and burning debris.
The City of Kamloops has issued an advisory to alert residents of several closures in effect as a result of the fire, due to the risk of floating debris.
The current closures include all City boat launches (Pioneer Park, Valleyview, and McArthur Island Park), Pioneer Park, Rivers Trail between Pioneer Park and Riverside Park, and Riverside Park pier. The city is also asking the public to stay out of the South Thompson and Thompson Rivers at or west of the Red Bridge and to stay back from the river’s edge.
The City has also released a statement saying council “was devastated to learn of this morning’s fire and resulting loss of the historic Red Bridge. This is a huge loss for both Kamloops and our neighbours at Tkemlups the Secewpemc. We are committed to working with our neighbours to determine the best path forward for our mutual benefit.”
The statement said councillors attending the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Vancouver are seeking an emergency meeting with Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming to discuss the situation.
Meanwhile, traffic delays in and around the area are expected.
Anyone who witnessed, has video, or information related to this or Tuesday’s fire investigation, which is ongoing, is asked to contact the Kamloops RCMP Detachment at 250-828-3000 and reference file 2024-31206.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The Salmon run is on now or soon will be. The salmon will have to pass thru the debris of the bridge, so cleanup is the immediate priority.
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This is a tragedy for Kamloops area as this is a corridor to Mount Paul and beyond and into Kamloops.
I see that this group of free loaders who call themselves “our council” have not let the Mayor do his job as he should be the one in speaking with the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and not them.
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Now will council consider a tent city with access to water, toilets, and services. Last year a body was found in the remains of a tent fire near the bridge.
How many fires does it take for council to figure out that homeless camping anywhere and everywhere isn’t working.
From the City of Kamloops website:
“Those who are experiencing homelessness may seek temporary overnight shelter on city property.”
What will they discuss at their emergency meeting with Rob Fleming? Too little, too late.
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Do NOT jump to conclusions. It is the wrongest most heinous thing to do at this point.
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I’m with you on the tent city and a tiny home community (Kelowna are opening up their 3rd) but lets not be too quick to judgement, this may not have anything to do with the homeless. This is/was a provincial bridge and we need a thorough investigation by provincial investigators.
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The first was clearly an encampment fire. The result could have been the same. There have been numerous blazes lit by encampments. Recall the church fire downtown, the fire next to TRU etc. Drive around town and pay attention to the walls. You will see scorch marks on many buildings from addicts cooking up.
Enough excuses. City must act. People are seething.
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The first one could have been staged, we really don’t know too much about it, but whether staged or not, it certainly could have easily ended in the same result as this mornings, as noted earlier. Given our climate, I think we all can agree, we as a community should be hyper vigilant when it comes to fires. We don’t need to look further than Kelowna to see how a city can be ravaged by fires and unsupervised encampments pose an existential threat.
I think we ought to put aside our personal beliefs as to whether supervised encampments are enabling addicts or not. To me, at this point, they’re an insurance policy to reduce our risk of greater danger. Kelowna has a large supervised encampment and they’re working on they’re third tiny home village, they’ve also seen their crime rate drop significantly. We need to get our act together before something worse happens, for all we know this could have been started by a disgruntled citizen, homeless or otherwise, who’s not happy with the city’s direction.
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A Viking Funeral for a Kamloops landmark.
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Suspicious? Seriously? The ends are still standing unscathed and the center is gone completely, partially up in smoke, partially into the river. No but seriously?
And BTW why are they not putting the fire out completely?
The air quality for thousands of residents is seriously bad and certainly unacceptable.
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