Firefighters were working for over an hour Monday to put out a burning wooden piling in a construction site at the base of the Lake Shore Drive bridge at the Chicago River.
Fire crews responded about 10:45 a.m. to a fire at a construction site on a pier next to a pillar at the base of the Lake Shore Drive bridge, according to Chicago Fire Dept. spokesman Larry Merritt.
By 12:30 p.m., crews were still working to put out the fire, which Merritt described as reigniting after crews initially extinguished it.
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— Machavellio (@machavellio) October 7, 2019
LSD bridge north side of river pic.twitter.com/eKxXQqoJ4R
Merritt said a construction torch set the piling on fire, and the fire continued to rage until a fire department boat arrived and began to hose down the structure.
Chicago police said they were called to the the scene for traffic control on Lake Shore Drive.
In a tweet, the fire department explained the fire was limited to a “dolphin,” a piling that protects the bridge. Contractors were doing repair work on the bridge when the piling was ignited.
The lower level of the bridge was closed to traffic, while at least one half of the upper level was at least temporarily closed, Merritt said. The Lake Michigan bike path was also closed between Monroe and Illinois.
The fire on LSD is what’s called a dolphin. A piling that protects the bridge. Contractors were working and there was an igtion of wood. No injuries as CFD is working the fire. This was the result of repair work on the bridge.
— Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) October 7, 2019
