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Posted by: DANIPD

Published: 09/07/2007
Contractor blamed for PI bridge problems

James Vaiknoras/Staff photo - Plum Island resident Tom Antone waits with Elvis as workers try to close the Plum Island River Bridge Monday night.

By Stephen Tait
Staff Writer




PLUM ISLAND - A state contractor failed to follow proper protocol when opening the Plum Island bridge Monday, which put islanders in danger when it failed to close again for almost two hours, Newburyport and Newbury officials said.

The failure left the 1,200 homes and their residents without proper emergency services during that time.
After receiving a request to open the bridge, which is the only roadway on or off the island, the contractor that operates the bridge is supposed to notify city and town officials one to two hours before it is opened to allow them to station emergency personnel and vehicles on the island.
But on Monday when the bridge opened at 4:50 p.m., no such call was made to officials, Newburyport Mayor John Moak said.
"There is a protocol that they are supposed to follow," Moak said. "They missed the protocol."
Problems were complicated when the bridge failed to lower again until about 6:30 p.m., which kept returning islanders from getting home, snarled traffic and left the residents without emergency services.
"That was a serious situation," Moak said. "We had no fire apparatus or emergency apparatus on the other side of the bridge."
In fact, an emergency did happen during the failure, but no lives were put in danger. During the bridge failure, two fires started at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, which is on the south end of the island, said refuge director Graham Taylor.
The first one was small, he said, about the size of a coffee table and was put out by a volunteer using a fire extinguisher. The second one, however, caused more concern, Taylor said.
That brush fire burned about a quarter of an acre at the salt pans at the north end of the refuge. And worse yet, Taylor said, officials fear someone may have started the fire on purpose, since they found a pack of matches in the area.
"We're still working on it, but we suspect it was deliberately set," Taylor said. "Our gut feeling is that is the case, but to be honest with you, we may not ever be able to figure it out."
Taylor said Newbury firefighters were finally able to make it across the bridge after it was lowered and put the fire out without problems. Taylor said he talked to the deputy director of the refuge, who has been there for 15 years, who said it is the first fire he can remember at the refuge.

"We were fortunate that the wind was blowing toward the ocean so that kind of kept it somewhat contained," Taylor said.
Moak said the city is in contact with the state to figure out why the protocol was not followed and how to prevent the failure from happening again. He said the city is waiting for a letter of response from the Massachusetts Highway Department, which will provide an explanation of what happened and a renewal of the protocol. City officials are unsure who the bridge contractor is.
"Newbury and Newburyport are supposed to be informed so that we can take preventative action," Moak said. "We have to make sure the protocol is carried out from now on."
Moak said the bridge opens about 30 times a year, mostly to let larger boats pass beneath.
MassHighway spokesman John Lamontagne and Newbury fire officials could not be reached for comment. Since Tuesday, MassHighway spokesmen have not responded to Daily News requests for information on the bridge mishap.
The bridge has had trouble in the past, most notably last year during an emergency.
Last September, police and firefighters responded to a call about a person not breathing on the island. But when trying to reach the island, the bridge was open 3 feet across and stuck, with a quarter-mile traffic backup.
The medical emergency was on Plum Island Point, the most northern point of the island.
Newburyport police Officer John Schmidt jumped over the 3-foot-wide opening of the bridge, carrying a defibrillator. He then got a ride from the first car in traffic to the Point.
There, David Hidden of Lynn was being attended by off-duty firefighters who lived on the island and a nurse and her husband who had found Hidden and made the 911 call by cell phone. The U.S. Coast Guard also arrived with equipment by boat.
It took 17 minutes from when the 911 call was made to transport Hidden via ambulance to Anna Jaques Hospital, City Marshal Thomas Howard said. Hidden was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Public safety on Plum Island has been an issue for many years. A former fire station that once had a call firefighter assigned to it was demolished in 2004 and hadn't been used for several years before that.

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