INDIAN RIVER COUNTY-There was no lightning early Monday morning. No electrical lines running along the footbridge. So determining a cause for the fire that destroyed 60 to 70 feet of the popular bridge has become a challenge.
“Unless it was spontaneous combustion – which is highly, highly, highly unlikely – there has to be another external factor,” said Indian River County Fire Rescue spokesman Assistant Chief Brian Burkeen.
Officially, the fire’s cause has been ruled “unknown,” Burkeen said – due to a lack of witnesses or suspects.
That could change, though, if a witness steps forward and tells what happened. Burkeen is encouraging members of the public to call the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office if they have any information about the fire.
County Parks Superintendent David Fleetwood said Monday afternoon that he hopes to have the bridge rebuilt as it was in less than 30 days.
“We’re going to rebuild it,” he said. “That’s all there is to it.”
He plans to get a quote Tuesday for the work and then proceed with construction starting next week.
The bridge will be built to the same specifications as it was three years ago when the bridge was raised six to eight feet to allow boaters to pass underneath.
“It gets pretty well-used,” Fleetwood said of the footbridge.
“One person spoils it for everybody,” he added, noting that it was his impression from firefighters on scene that it was a case of arson. “It’s just unfortunate with the way things are.”
Beth Martin, the county’s risk manager, said that the cost to rebuild the bridge would most likely come out of the county’s self-insurance fund.
The self-insurance fund was established in 1989 through the county’s general fund as a way to pay insurance claims that wouldn’t reach the county’s insurance deductible.
