On the evening of August 6, a fire broke out at the Wan’an Bridge in Pingnan, Ningde, Fujian, a key cultural relics protection unit in the country and the longest existing wooden arch bridge in China.
The fire was extinguished at 10:45 p.m. on the same day, and the bridge body was burned and collapsed, with no casualties.
On the morning of August 7, a staff member of the Ningde Emergency Management Bureau said that according to current knowledge, Xuwan’an Bridge caught fire at 21:10 on August 6, and at 10:45, the fire was extinguished and no casualties were reported. “The fire area of the bridge body is relatively large.” The staff member said that at present, the specific cause of the accident is still under investigation, and the criminal investigation department of the Pingnan County Public Security Bureau has intervened.
On the 7th, a village cadre in Changqiao Village, where Wan’an Bridge is located, said that at 9 o’clock last night, he learned that the Wan’an Bridge in the village was on fire, and he immediately organized villagers and relevant personnel to fight the fire. At present, the main body of the bridge has been burned down. .
“The fire at the scene was huge, and no one could approach it. The fire completely destroyed the bridge in 20 minutes.” The village cadre said that the local public security and fire protection have been involved in the investigation.
The village cadre also introduced that for the protection and maintenance of Wan’an Bridge, the local county cultural, sports and tourism bureau will send cultural relics administrators to carry out regular inspections, and the relevant county departments need to be consulted for specific conditions.
According to an earlier report by CCTV News, the bridge has been burned and collapsed.
Wan’an Bridge has a history of more than 900 years. It was burned in the 47th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, rebuilt in the seventh year of Qianlong (1742), and repaired in subsequent dynasties.
On October 9, 1990, it was approved as a Pingnan county-level cultural relics protection unit; in March 1991, it was approved as a Fujian provincial-level cultural relics protection unit; and on May 25, 2006, it was announced as one of the “Northeast Fujian Covered Bridges” as the sixth batch of national Key cultural relics protection units.
In addition, according to the official public account of the Propaganda Department of Pingnan County Party Committee “Panorama Pingnan” in the early morning of the 8th, at around 21:10 on August 6, the masses called the police, and there was a fire in Wan’an Bridge, Changqiao Town, Pingnan County.
After receiving the alarm, the local government organized rescue forces to go to the scene for disposal.
At present, the fire has been extinguished and no one was injured. The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
In the next step, Pingnan County will evaluate the fire situation and make every effort to do follow-up work such as repairs.
According to public information, Wan’an Bridge is located in Changqiao Village, Changqiao Town, and Pingnan County.
The bridge is a five-pier six-hole wooden arched house bridge. The bridge is 98.2 meters long and 4.7 meters wide, with boat-shaped piers and unequal spans. The shortest arch span is 10.6 meters and the longest arch span is 15.2 meters. The bridge house has 38 bays, 156 columns, a bucket-type wooden frame, a double-slope roof, and wooden benches on both sides.
As the longest existing through-wood arched house bridge in my country, Wan’an Bridge has important value in the history of ancient bridge construction science and technology in China.
[…] China’s Longest Wooden Arch Bridge Are Burned Down […]