The destruction of the Red Bridge in Kamloops by fire on Thursday morning is now being considered a criminal act.

Kamloops RCMP Superintendent Jeff Pelley says while the investigation is still in its early stages, police believe the 88-year-old Red Bridge was intentionally set on fire.

“We are treating it as arson, based on the information and evidence reviewed so far,” Pelley said. “The Red Bridge was an important and historic part of our community’s infrastructure; it is extremely disheartening to think that it was purposely destroyed.”

Thursday’s fire was the second at the Red Bridge this week, and police say their investigation will also aim to determine if this blaze is related to the one from early Tuesday.

“You may have observed something that seemed out of place or stood out, which could now be relevant to advancing our investigation into what is believed to have been a criminal act,” Pelley added.

“It’s very important that anyone in the community who has any information which could be related to the Red Bridge fire, please share it with police as soon as possible.”

As the investigation continues, Deputy Mayor for September, Stephen Karpuk, says he and many other long-term Kamloops residents are trying to come to terms with the loss of the bridge that connected Kamloops and Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc through the Mount Paul industrial park

“There is a bit of anger that somebody figured this is the best way to solve a problem, or whatever their rationale was…probably wasn’t rational when they burnt it down,” Karpuk said.

“It truly was one of those symbolic things that we think back in our years that was part of our city, and its not there anymore. The future will bring us something else, I’m sure, but yeah, sadness, emotions.”

The southern end of the bridge is still on fire, with plumes of heavy black smoke billowing from the remains of the span on occasion. Heavy equipment is also being brought in today to try to remove the debris from the South Thompson River.

Huge plume of black smoke from the area of the Red Bridge in downtown #Kamloops. It has subsided, with the smoke now mostly gone.

Both @ChiefKenKFR and Deputy Mayor Stephen Karpuk told @RadioNLNews the fire is still burning.. pic.twitter.com/WmmaC6BHsg

— Victor Kaisar (@supermario_47) September 20, 2024

Kamloops Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc says once the fire is finally extinguished, the department will be working with the RCMP to try and determine a cause.

But speaking on NL Mornings, Uzeloc said it could be challenging for officials to determine exactly what happened.

“There is some information as to where the fire started but what the actual cause is maybe a little difficult, because a lot of that scene evidence is now either completely burned away or into the river,” Uzeloc said.

“After the fire is completely out, really, the fire department’s role other than investigation will step back and that’ll move more into the province. As this is a Ministry of Transport bridge, they will then be taking the lead on, you know what happens next with cleanup or any demolition of the remaining pieces.”

Uzeloc also says the loss of the bridge should have little impact on fire response times in other parts of Kamloops.

“That bridge does have weight restrictions and a lot of our bigger trucks are very heavy,” Uzeloc said. “And because of the narrowness of it, we generally don’t use it that often, so it won’t have a huge impact on our response. But yeah, it could be based on other factors. If you look at traffic incidents or something happening on another route then it was a route that may have been available to us, so yeah, there will be some impacts.”

Karpuk says as crews continue to work to put the fire out, there is a desire from both the City and Tk’emlúps to see the connection eventually re-established.

“I think we’re a resilient community and both sides of the river,” Karpuk added.

“I spoke with Kukpi7 [Rosanne] Casimir yesterday, quite at length, and we have a determination to go forward and make sure that despite a lack of linkage there, our relationship will continue to grow and at the end of the day we’ll continue to be stronger.”

“At Tk’emlúps we are deeply saddened by the loss of the Red Bridge. It is a historical landmark connecting the local municipality and our IR,” Casimir said, in a statement.

“I would like to acknowledge that we will be working collaboratively with the City of Kamloops to address the environmental impacts, and we will keep everyone informed as new information becomes available.”

The clean-up of the South Thompson River at the Bridge site began on Friday, with a large crane being utilized to extract the bridge debris.

“All parties have staff members at the site and are developing a plan to remove material as quickly as possible while minimizing and mitigating impacts to fish and fish habitat,” said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a statement to Radio NL. “The habitat near the bridge is primarily used as a migratory corridor for fish. DFO is working with MOTI to ensure that avoidance and mitigation measures are employed so fish can continue to migrate through the area during the cleanup and removal of in-water materials.”

“The bridge has been in place for nearly 100 years and likely had preservatives within its materials,” the DFO note continued. “It can be expected that fire-affected material would increase the potential for the temporary release of deleterious substances into the water; therefore, DFO is working with MOTI and First Nations to develop a plan that efficiently removes the materials while ensuring effects to fish and their habitat are minimized.”

In a statement to Radio NL Thursday, BC Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said his ministry will be “working with other agencies on the immediate impacts resulting from the fire and to plan next steps for clean-up and restoration” of the bridge.

“Once the full extent of the damage is known, we will sit down with the City of Kamloops and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc to discuss long-term plans for the bridge to make sure people can get to where they need to go,” the statement from Fleming said.

People who witnessed the fire or those with video or information related to it are being told to  contact the Kamloops RCMP Detachment at 250-828-3000 or Tk’emlúps Rural RCMP Detachment at 250-314-1800 and reference file 2024-31206.

– With files from Paul James and Jeff Andreas