Port Orange, FL - One of the main arteries to Port Orange is open following a construction fire that had it shut down for most of the morning.
According to Fire Chief Ken Fustin of Port Orange, a call came out at around 11 a.m. this morning (February 4th) with reports that black smoke was coming out from under the Dunlawton Bridge.
The fire, as Fustin reported, was caused by part of the bridge's rehabilitation project,
"Some of the vacuum hoses that are drawing dust and particles of that they sandblast off the bridge that (started to spark)," Fustin said. "And it was the rubber on the hoses that started the fire."
When units arrived at the fire, they found that the fire was coming from underneath the bridge, in an elaborate scaffolding that engineers have constructed under the bridge as part of the rehabilitation project. Due to the hoses' location on the bridge, units had no choice but to rappel down the side of the bridge to fight the fire. "We had to go over the side of the bridge, in full SCBAs and turn-out gear to get to the area that was on fire," said Chief Fustin. Both directions of Dunlawton were shut down as a precaution. The city then had to wait for an engineer from the contractor and from the Florida Department of Transportation to inspect the bridge for damage. Marine traffic under the bridge was also halted for most of the morning as a result of the fire. Around 1 p.m., both engineers finished their inspections and around 1:42, the City of Port Orange announced that the bridge was reopened.
**Dunlawton Ave. Bridge Update** - 2/4 at 1:42 pm
The Dunlawton Ave. Bridge is back open in both directions. — City of Port Orange (@cityportorange) February 4, 2019
