Firefighting vehicles cannot reach some parts of Loudoun without violating posted weight limits on bridges, and other areas could see firefighters having to take longer alternate routes, the Loudoun County Combined Fire-Rescue Service has warned, LoudonNow.com reported.

The issue was raised after a Loudoun County deputy pulled over a Philomont tanker truck recently. According to an Aug. 24 memo to the Board of Supervisors, the tanker—one of the heaviest types of fire apparatus—was headed south along Snickersville Turnpike toward Hibbs Bridge over Beaverdam Creek on June 24 when a deputy flagged it down and warned the crew about the bridge’s weight limit, the report said.

That bridge, a double-arched stone bridge first built in the early 1800s and rehabilitated in 2007, has a posted weight limit of six tons. The tanker truck weighs about 29 tons, according to Loudoun Fire-Rescue.

That led a fire official to issue a directive to responders that they are expected to observe posted bridge limits. According to the memo to supervisors, in follow-up discussions, the sheriff’s office indicated it has not issued any directives to “start enforcing” bridge weight limits on Loudoun Fire-Rescue vehicles, the report said.

The incident also led system leaders to evaluate the weight restrictions on all the state-owned bridges in Loudoun County, finding 41 bridges in all and to assess simulated response times with those bridges closed, the report said.

For more on this story, please go to LoudonNow.com.

Danko—Chadron (NE) Volunteer Fire Department rescue. Ford F-550 Super Duty cab and chassis; PowerStroke 6.7L 4V OHV V8 Turbo engine; 12-foot walk-around rescue body; cascade system with four 6,000-psi bottles; MECC ALTE S 20 W 6.5-kW generator; Command Light KL403D-H4 light tower; custom roll-out trays and compartmentation. Dealer: Jeff Horn, Danko Emergency Equipment, Snyder, NE.

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