TEHKUMMAH—A tar kettle headed up a rise in the Government Road in Tehkummah caught fire around noon on Wednesday, November 5, resulting in a spectacular if short-lived fire.
“They were coming from Sudbury with a load of tar for the work on the bridge,” said Tehkummah Fire Chief Jeff Wilson. “They keep a flame lit under the kettle to keep the tar melted.”
As the tar kettle was drawn up a rise in the road, tar appears to have leaked out and onto the flame. “The tar was coming out and pretty soon the whole thing was going up,” said Mr. Wilson. “It did not take us very long to get there and about 15 minutes to put it out. There was a good bit of tar spilled out onto the road.”
Tehkummah Reeve Gary Brown and Lyle Gordon, volunteers on the fire department, were also on the fire team that suppressed the fire. “I think they had the three oldest guys on the department out there,” chuckled Mr. Brown.
The reeve said that he did not anticipate the fire causing a delay in completion of the work on the bridge, scheduled to be finished on November 14. “They must have found another tar kettle somewhere because that part of it looks to be done,” said Mr. Brown. “It is a specialized piece of equipment.”
The guardrails need to be installed on the bridge, as well as the completion of the paving, but it is likely that traffic will soon be flowing over the span.
