Chief Decrees: Bridge Unsafe for Fire Trucks

ERMA — Fire trucks from Lower Township, weighing over 15 tons ,are no longer using the Middle Thorofare Bridge to reach Diamond Beach following a directive from Lower Township Police Chief Edward P. Donohue.
He has concerns of the weight of fire vehicles on the 67-year-old drawbridge.
Instead of following a route along Ocean Drive past marinas and seafood processors, fire trucks will need to drive thorough Rio Grande using the George Redding Bridge into traffic-choked Wildwood.
In an Aug. 15 letter to Erma Volunteer Fire Company Chief Warner T. Muller, copied to Mayor Walter Craig and Lower Township council members, Office of Emergency Management Director and Chief of Townbank Volunteer Fire Company Art Treon, the mayors of Cape May, Wildwood Crest and Wildwood and County Administrator Steven O’Connor, Donohue said Muller “expressed his concerns to me regarding weight limit restrictions for the Middle Thorofare Toll Bridge.”
“The bridge is rated for a 15-ton maximum weight limit, however fire trucks fully loaded with water can weigh up to 25 tons,” noted the police chief.
In the letter, Donohue said he spoke with Cape May Fire Chief Jerry Inderwies Jr. who informed him that his department and the Coast Guard Fire Department have standing orders to utilize the George Redding Bridge when responding to mutual aid calls in the Diamond Beach or Wildwood Crest, due to the weight limit restrictions of the Middle Thorofare Bridge.
“Therefore in the interest of public safety, effective Aug. 15, 2007, I am instructing Chief Muller to have all Erma Fire Department fire apparatus over 15 tons, utilize the George Redding Bridge in lieu of the Middle Thorofare Toll Bridge …” said Donohue.
He stated in the letter the decision to divert fire trucks through Wildwood raises concerns regarding fire department response time to the Diamond Beach.
“Chief Muller already had a contingency plan in place where he will dispatch five to six fire fighters in a rescue rig that meets the weight limit to Diamond Beach via the Middle Thorofare Toll Bridge.”
In the interim, an engine will immediately be dispatched to the call via the George Redding Bridge.
“In the event that there is a confirmed report of smoke or fire showing at the scene, as per countywide mutual aid agreements already in place, the Wildwood Crest Volunteer Fire Department will be requested to respond to the scene as well.”
Donohue is calling on county freeholders to “take a hard look at implementing plans to replace the Middle Thorofare Toll Bridge, (these plans are already on the books,) and establish a firm time line for the completion of a new bridge that can support modern fire fighting apparatus.”
In the meantime, Donohue is requesting an emergency services substation be constructed in Diamond Beach that would have a “fire truck available on a 24-hour-a-day ready status.”
The police chief noted “if our large fire trucks continue to utilize the Middle Thorofare Toll Bridge by grossly exceeding the 15-ton weight limit, we would actually be putting our fire fighters and the motoring public’s lives at risk. The potential collapse of this critical infrastructure would number one, jeopardize lives, disrupt traffic flow and have a serious financial impact on our area.”
Donohue said unless the county Engineer’s Office is willing to state that fire apparatus over 15 tons can safely transverse the Middle Thorofare Bridge, it is in the best interest of public safety to have large fire trucks respond to fire alarm calls in the Diamond Beach via the George Redding Bridge.
Muller told the Herald the Erma Volunteer Fire Department is searching for a used, lighter weight pumper truck to purchase, which could safely use the Middle Thorofare Bridge. He was scheduled to meet with the board of fire commissioners last night to determine how much the department can spend on a used truck.
Muller estimated the cost at least $100,000.
While a substation located in Diamond Beach would help the response time, Erma Volunteer Fire Company membership in that part of the township is “slim to none,” he said, raising a question of who would staff the facility.
Muller said he sent two trucks to Diamond Beach simultaneously using both the old route across the Middle Thorofare Bridge and new route through Rio Grande to the George Redding Bridge and found both arrived in 17 minutes. He said the test run was conducted during the summer tourist season.
Mueller said he was concerned with traffic backups driving through Middle Township.
In 2002, the county Department of Public Works announced it wanted to upgrade Ocean Drive to a viable emergency evacuation route to be used during hurricanes and northeasters and rehabilitate, modify or replace three bridges along the route. A replacement of the Middle Thorofare Bridge, also known as the “Two Mile Bridge” with a movable span or a high-level fixed span was under consideration.
At that time a report noted a higher fixed bridge would eliminate traffic backups due to bridge openings, often occurring 20 to 40 times per day.
The bridge was deemed too narrow and “structurally deficient due to its inability to carry loads greater than 15 tons,” it stated. On a scale of 100, it was rated a four with 100 being a perfect bridge and a collapsed bridge rating a zero.
The Mill Creek and Upper Thoroughfare bridges are also slated for replacement. Both bridges have been deemed too narrow and functionally obsolete.
In 2002, cost of the bridge project was estimated at over $100 million.
County Engineer Dale Foster told the Herald Monday an environmental assessment has not been completed for the project which can take “a couple of years.” He said while repairs are planned for the Middle Thorofare Bridge, he did not know if that would allow for a fire truck to use the bridge until the actual load per axle of a truck was known.
Foster said he hoped the repair project, which is in the design phase, could begin next year. He said it would take most of 2008 since it involves the repair of four separate bridges.
In 2005, Lower Township Mayor Walter Craig and Wildwood Crest Mayor Carl Groon met to discuss what plans Lower Township has to build a fire station in Diamond Beach to take care of the needs of that growing community, in particular, to service the Grand Hotel-Condo resort.
Lower Township Council changed zoning regulations last year to allow 12-story buildings to be built along the beachfront of Atlantic Avenue in Diamond Beach
At that time, Craig said he and Groon had “a mutual understanding that it’s an issue that has to be addressed, that it is the responsibility that Lower Township has to assume and I think we are going to work towards that resolution.”
In 2005, Grand Hotel-Condo Resort developer Eustace Mita had offered to pay for the building of a fire substation. At that time, Craig said there have been promises of a fire substation being built in Diamond Beach for 20 years but it has never happened for one reason or another.
The township owns a parcel of land in Diamond Beach, at Rochester and Seaview avenues, currently in use as a playground, that has been designated for a number of years as a potential site for a fire substation.