Los Angeles County firefighters battled a blaze that spread to a bridge spanning the Rio Hondo flood-control channel in Pico Rivera Tuesday morning.
The fire was reported at about 7:50 a.m. on Beverly Boulevard west of Paramount Boulevard, said county fire Inspector Ron Haralson. At 11 a.m., firefighters were still watering down the flames under the bridge, which was close to collapsing. It coulud take months to repair the bridge, NBC4 reported.
Authorities said this is the third time the bridge has caught fire; although the cause of Tuesday's fire was not immediately known, a fire a few years ago was caused by transients camping under the bridge. Tuesday's fire began in some kind of combustible material beneath the bridge and quickly spread to the wooden infrastructure, authorities said.
Traffic was routed away from the area while firefighters worked to douse the flames but no evacuations were ordered.
One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and was taken to a hospital for treatment, said county fire Inspector John Mancha.
Firefighters said the bridge is heavily traveled and it was fortunate that no vehicles were on it when the fire broke out.
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