Bucks looks to fight fire with fire
- Original The Morning Call article: Bucks looks to fight fire with fire
Three of Bucks County's seven county-owned covered bridges are about to get a lot less vulnerable to arsonists.
County commissioners voted Wednesday spend $144,999 to replace the roofs of bridges in Tinicum, Solebury and Plumstead townships with fire-retardant cedar shingles.
When completed, four of seven county-owned covered bridges will have flame-resistant roofs, said county Special Projects Director Joe Bush.
Three other bridges-- in Tinicum, New Britain and Springfield townships -- probably will get the same type of shingles when money permits or their roofs need replacement, Bush said.
''We'll take it one step at a time,'' he said. ''These were the worst three.''
Covered bridges in East Rockhill and Springfield townships have been struck by arsonists in recent years.
Mood's Covered Bridge in East Rockhill was destroyed by fire in 2004, but rebuilt with fire-resistant materials. It reopened in February.
Commissioners on Wednesday hired Eastern Highway Specialists of Wilmington, Del., to make repairs to Knecht's Covered Bridge in Springfield at a cost of $55,000 -- covered by the county's insurance policy.
Bush said the county is looking into treating all the bridges with fire-retardant chemicals from top to bottom, depending on the costs.
That's the goal of Bucks County Covered Bridge Society, said Wayne Siefert, the society's secretary-treasurer.
''It's a step in the right direction,'' Siefert said of the roof replacements. ''I know the bridges that they are replacing the roofs on they need to be replaced because a lot of them have holes in them.''
In addition to being fire-retardant, the new roofs will protect the structural components of the bridges from the elements, he said.
Tinicum Supervisor Nick Forte applauded the county's move to protect his township's Frankenfield Covered Bridge.
''The covered bridges in Tinicum help define our community because the villages were based around transportation access, which was provided by these covered bridges,'' Forte said.
Various entities in Pennsylvania have begun spraying bridges with fire retardants, said Tom Walczak, president of the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of Pennsylvania.
The chemicals don't prevent the bridges from being set on fire, but prevent fires from spreading and causing severe damage.
''They are more of a retardant,'' he said. ''If you hold a torch to them, they will burn, but the fire will be sort of suppressed.''
Walczak said he had not heard of the fire-resistant shingles, but supports any effort to protect the bridges from arsonists.
Experts say vandals damage or destroy three to four covered bridges a year across the country. The endangered historic spans have dwindled from more than 1,300 in 1960 to 800 today, according to the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges.
scott.kraus@mcall.com 215-230-4930
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