Windsor's mayor believes a recent truck fire on the Ambassador Bridge stresses the need for the federal government to prevent hazardous materials from being transported over the crossing.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says the government has a federal bridges and tunnels act, and if the regulation isn't at their disposal, they have the power to create regulation that would prohibit vehicles carrying hazardous goods from crossing the Ambassador Bridge.
On Friday, just after 2 p.m., Windsor Fire and Rescue responded to a tractor-trailer fire in the Canadian-bound lanes of the bridge between Windsor and Detroit.
The fire was contained to the engine and cab of a transport truck hauling auto parts.
An official with Windsor Fire and Rescue says some diesel fuel from the truck mixed in with the water used to douse the fire and spilled off the bridge into the river, but it was contained below.
The city has been urging the upper levels of government for help after loosened restrictions on the transportation of hazardous materials took effect on Oct. 29 after the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) approved a request from the company that owns the Ambassador Bridge to remove the red tape on Class 3 and Class 8 materials, which are flammable and corrosive compounds.
"If the fire did happen in the cab or in the trailer where the hazardous goods were, today I think this small fire shows that that structure is not capable of proper spill containment to deal with the effects that none of us want to see in our drinking water source," he says.
Dilkens says this small fire shows that structure is not capable of proper spill containment to deal with the effects that none of us want to see in our drinking water source.
"So I'm asking the federal government, please. They keep saying they don't have the ability to do it. If you don't have the ability today, pull your pants on, put the suspenders on, and act like the big federal government you are. Create the regulation that will give you the power to regulate and say no to hazardous goods crossing the Ambassador Bridge," he says.
Dilkens says this should give everyone in this community a reason to pause and to look at what's happening here.
"The Detroit River is not worth risking to have a few hazardous vehicles cross for the benefit of a private owner. The Gordie Howe Bridge will have the containment systems in place. They will have the proper spill containment; it's built to withstand different types of events that may happen; built to today's standards, the Ambassador Bridge just isn't," he says.
The federal government has had conversations with the State of Michigan over the issue, but officials have argued that the federal government regulates how things are meant to be moved, but the oversight and jurisdiction over the transport of these materials across the bridge rest with the State of Michigan and the Province of Ontario, saying that it's not a federal issue from a roads and highways stand point.