A massive fire is blocking the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge over the Ohio River on both sides of I-471

CINCINNATI (WXIX) — The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge and both sides of Interstate 471 over the Ohio River are closed to the morning commute after a major fire and reports of explosions early Friday.

First responders are concerned about the structural integrity of the bridge and are asking state inspectors to come as quickly as possible.

“Bridge 471 will be shut down for a period of time until we can assess the damage to the bridge. It's very likely to impact rush hour traffic,” a first responder said on police radio around 4 a.m

This was initially reported by multiple 911 callers as a vehicle fire on or near southbound I-71 on the Cincinnati side of the bridge at 3:20 a.m

Cincinnati Fire Department officials said crews discovered a large outdoor fire in the play area at Sawyer Point Park.

“Due to the volume of fire, numerous master streams and large fire lines were deployed in defensive positions to protect the bridge structure and extinguish the fire. The fire has been contained and companies remain on site to carry out final firefighting, overhaul and recovery work.

“The Cincinnati Fire Investigation Unit is working to determine the cause. Other support agencies requested locally include Duke Energy and the Ohio Department of Transportation. The northbound and southbound lanes of the I-471 bridge are currently closed to all traffic.”

Earlier Friday morning, firefighters reported seeing “concrete falling on the north side of the bridge” and “significant metal warping under the bridge to the point where it could fail,” initial emergency reports said.

“We have firefighters at the scene of the fire on Pete Rose Way under the I-471 bridge. “The highway is closed in both directions along the river,” Cincinnati firefighters said in a social media update shortly before 5 a.m

According to Jake Ryle, KYTC spokesman, inspectors from the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are on scene and ready to inspect the bridge once the fire is fully extinguished and safe.

Ryle said his manager told him the fire started under the bridge.

“I know that both ODOT and KYTC have bridge inspectors who are on site now and will begin inspecting the bridge after the fire has been extinguished and it is safe to do so. They will inspect and look through the bridge to determine if it is safe to allow traffic back onto the bridge. We don’t have a timeline yet for what will take place.”

FOX19 NOW will continue to update this breaking story on-air and across all of our digital platforms.

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it to us here with a short description.

Copyright 2024 WXIX. All rights reserved.