Goodbye , Black Bridge

[David Lee]

:( :( :( :(

The old Black Railroad bridge over the American just went up in flames ....

I caught my first flyrod Striper there back in '97 . Hope the creasote residue doesn't wash into the river and scare all the Stripes/Shad away (or worse - kill them) .

Sad day .

David

[A Matthews]

I hope the fish turn out alright. After the terrible salmon year and so so steelhead year, the river (and its devoted fishermen) really need a break!

The coincidence in all of this, David, is that I was on my way to Kiene's to pick up some stuff when I saw the smoke column. A group of us were remarking about it in the store. Small world...

Anthony

[SteelieD]

It made our local news here in Seattle.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Video clip

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=21645@kpix.dayport.com

[Tony Buzolich]

I guess I better watch more of the news as this is the first I've heard of that fire.

It looks like it was the trussel and not the actual black bridge (I hope) :(

I'm sure I've got a few of my initials carved or scratched in to some of the burned timbers or what's left of them.

For a kid growing up the trussel and the old black bridge were great places to play and get in to trouble. It was also a good shortcut for getting in to town from North Sac.

My best friend and I used to launch my dad's old plywood skiff under that bridge before we were old enough to drive and head upstream till we hit the rocks at Paradise Beach. Still hitting some of those same rocks now too :oops:
TONY

[Darian]

Hey Tony,.... It was the tressle and not the black bridge that burned. The fire boats were dumping water on the American River end of the tressle while fire crews were keeping the fire from expending into the wartershed. 8) 8) At it's peak the fire put up a solid wall of smoke about 1/4 mile in length.... :shock: The tracks were warped and looked to be collapsing when I last saw the fire. :shock: :shock:

I went thru that area on the way home tonight (10 PM) and didn't see any signs of an active fire. It'll be interesting to see all of the damage in tomorrow's light. Looks like I'll have to modify the course for my bike rides on the trail (now closed in that area). :( :(

[Adam Grace]

Can somebody post a picture of the damage and the location?

[Digger]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/03/16/MNG99OMI6V1.DTL&o=2

[Jgoding]

I work near Fry's in the evening and one of our techs mentioned the big black cloud of smoke.... we were like "whatever"..... til we went outside and took a look... It was quite an impressive site.... Just solid black cloud billowing up and then we turned on the news and saw what it was... I guess they said that it was pretty oil soaked etc... which didn't help things and in the evening it smelled pretty bad too as the smoke finally made its way over. They said the cause looks "suspicious" this morning...

Jeff

[Adam Grace]

Thanks Digger! I thought that it was that bridge but that diagram confirmed my suspicion.

[dberry]

The trestle fire generated several toxic constituents that were given off into the air [and ash] and remain in the ash residue on the ground. I hope that the County and the fire departments put coffer dams in some of the drainages into the American River to prevent transport of ash into the river [carried by fire suppression water]. The ash probably contains heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [tars and soots], and potentially dioxins. None of these compounds are good for fish . . . or humans.

[Darian]

I passed over the river at about 9:00 PM and it looked like the bridge is still intact. 8) But, some engineers are predicting it will collapse before the fire is out..... Still some smoldering. Not sure why as it doesn't appear to be damaged from where I was.

The smoke cloud is currently at ground level with calm winds. The area around the burn looks like you're driving into a fog bank. :( :( :( Hope the wind picks up soon. :) :)

[OregonSalmon]

Yips,

You guys had me worried. I thought you were talking about the Black Bridge over my local river the Necanicum. Great spot for steelhead and chantrelles.