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by JOSHUA ROBIN and DARYL KHAN
The Queensboro Bridge is open this morning after yesterday's fire. The upper roadway was reopened at five this morning. The lower level was opened last night. The flames temporarily shut down both levels of the span that connects Manhattan and Queens.
The wind-whipped blaze tore through a canvas-covered construction site atop the bridge Tuesday afternoon, prompting transportation officials to halt traffic on the span as engineers assessed damage to the 96-year-old structure.
Five firefighters but no civilians were injured in the fire, which broke out shortly before 1 p.m. along the bridge's easternmost edge, above Long Island City. The injuries were described as minor.
The fire was still under investigation this morning. Sources familiar with the probe said it appeared to be caused by an overloaded lighting fixture. Investigators had ruled out arson.
Several motorists crossing the bridge, stunned by the flames shooting around them, exited their vehicles, inhibiting the arrival of firefighters, whose jobs were further complicated by an antiquated water pipe system on the bridge.
The area where the blaze started was covered in a canvas tarpaulin, under which crews have been blasting away lead-based paint as part of a $200-million rehabilitation project slated to end in 2008.
To ensure that toxic lead chips are not released into the atmosphere, high-powered fans blow from under the tarps, creating cocoon-like hutches around the bridge's steel arches.
City Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall said there were no reports of dangerous levels of lead exposure. Nor was there damage to the span's lower level, which was opened for Tuesday evening's rush after a four-hour closure.
Of more concern was the upper level, where the work site was located. Crews were to examine the roadway Tuesday.
Officials said that level was to open at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Overnight work resulting from the fire could continue.
"It would appear from our engineers' eyesight that there is no structural damage, but until they get up in there and crawl and look around, we won't know for sure," she said at an afternoon news conference under the bridge, as the charred canvas flapped in the wind.
She suggested motorists opt for other bridges to cross the East River.
Officials identified the subcontractor working on the paint removal as Pennsylvania-based Odyssey Inc. Company officials could not be reached Tuesday.
Hindering the battle was a decades-old water piping system, which pumps water up from the ground.
There are eight sites on the bridge on which to hook up hoses, officials said.
New fire-fighting technology allows water pressure at all valves when just one spigot is opened, FNDY brass said, adding that the department might examine whether it should update the city's river crossings.
"There are water problems," Assistant Chief Robert Sweeney said. "You're trying to get water up to an elevated structure. Our sources of water are very limited."
Staff writer Wil Cruz contributed to this story.
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