Thunder Bay

Bridge fire investigation still on after 15 months

Thunder Bay fire chief John Hay says he's surprised how long it's taking to finish the investigation into the cause of the fire on the James Street swing bridge.
The head of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue says he expected the investigation into the James Street bridge fire would have been completed by now. (CBC)

Thunder Bay fire chief John Hay says he's surprised how long it's taking to finish the investigation into the cause of the fire on the James Street swing bridge.

The fire happened in October, 2013.

Hay noted the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is still working on the case, while Thunder Bay Fire Rescue completed its own investigation much earlier.
Thunder Bay Fire Chief John Hay. (Supplied)

He said he expected the job would be done "a while ago."

“One of the pieces that we're missing is information from CN, I believe, and they've been requested of that as late as Nov. 13, 2014.”

As of Friday, Hay said, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office had still not heard back about that request.

However, a spokesperson for the railway told CBC News the last request CN received for information was in September, and that request was complied with.

The fire chief said it can get vexing waiting for one piece of information to finalize an investigation.

“When it's a piece of information that we're looking for to help us finalize an investigation ... it can be a little bit frustrating,” he said.

“Some of these take a little longer than others and we're used to that.  [But] we were expecting this to be done a little while ago.

CBC News requested an update on the bridge fire investigation from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office on Tuesday, and is waiting for a response.