Heartbroken! my country's longest existing wooden arch bridge caught fire. Can it be rebuilt?

In the early morning of August 7, the Publicity Department of Pingnan County Party Committee of Fujian Province announced that a fire broke out at Wan'an Bridge in Pingnan, Ningde, Fujian Province, a national key cultural relic protection site and the longest existing wooden arch bridge in China. The fire has been extinguished and no casualties have been reported.

According to videos taken by local residents, the main body of Wan'an Bridge has basically burned down and collapsed after the fire, and only part of the frame remains.

Wan'an Bridge was selected as one of the "Northeast Fujian Covered Bridges" in the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection sites in May 2006. According to historical records, the bridge was first built in the Northern Song Dynasty and has a history of more than 900 years. It has been damaged by fires and floods many times in history, and has undergone several generations of repairs. Before the fire, Wan'an Bridge was destroyed by floods in 1952, and was rebuilt by the local government in 1954.

According to the latest news, the specific cause of the fire is still under investigation. Zhou Qian, an expert in ancient building protection and a researcher at the Palace Museum, believes that generally speaking, the causes of fires on such wooden bridges include human and natural causes. Human causes refer to man-made fires, such as careless use of fire, deliberate arson, etc.; natural causes refer to fires caused by direct non-human causes such as lightning strikes and high temperatures. However, Zhou Qian believes that no matter what the cause of the fire is, it is reasonable to effectively avoid large-scale damage to the ancient bridge through early warning or daily prevention measures.

Image source: CCTV News

Zhou Qian pointed out that from the perspective of ancient Chinese architectural history, most ancient Chinese bridges were made of stone, and there were very few wooden bridges. "This is mainly because wood is afraid of moisture and is prone to decay in a humid environment, which reduces the mechanical performance of the bridge and makes it easy to be damaged, so there are few pure wooden ancient bridges in existence." Zhou Qian believes that Wan'an Bridge is one of the few ancient wooden covered bridges in my country, and its historical and cultural value is extremely precious. It is a pity that it was destroyed by fire this time.

According to the video footage shot by local residents, after the Wan'an Bridge caught fire, the fire quickly spread to the entire bridge. In just a few minutes, the entire ancient bridge was engulfed in flames. Zhou Qian analyzed, "The entire bridge is made of wood, and most of the components are connected by wooden mortise and tenon joints. Therefore, a fire in one place can easily ignite the entire wooden bridge, causing a 'fire burning the entire camp' situation."

Regarding whether Wan'an Bridge can be rebuilt, Zhou Qian said that this still needs to be thoroughly discussed by experts. However, he pointed out that cultural relics are non-renewable, and the damage caused by the fire on Wan'an Bridge is immeasurable. Even if it is rebuilt, the rebuilt Wan'an Bridge should be considered a new building, and only has a similar appearance to the original cultural relic. "It should be more precisely called an 'antique bridge'. Compared with the original bridge, the new bridge is incomparable in terms of building materials, construction technology, architectural art, and the historical and cultural value contained in it."

Wan'an Bridge before the fire. Image source: Visual China

The fire at Wan'an Bridge has undoubtedly sounded the alarm again for the fire protection of ancient wooden structures in my country. Zhou Qian said that in fact, there were many excellent practices for fire protection of ancient wooden structures in ancient my country. Taking the Forbidden City as an example, the first thing is to ensure sufficient water for firefighting. The Jinshui River in the Forbidden City and the copper or iron cylinders filled with water in front of the major palaces can provide sufficient water for firefighting at the first time; secondly, adding fire-proof masonry materials between wooden structures can prevent the fire from spreading quickly to adjacent buildings. In addition, the fire management agencies such as the "Eight Banners Fire Class" and "Excitation Bucket Office" specially set up in the Forbidden City can better protect ancient wooden structures from fire damage by establishing strict fire prevention regulations, holding fire drills regularly, and conducting fire inspections.

With the development of modern science and technology, modern scientific and technological equipment such as fire warning devices, automatic sprinkler devices, and robot fire extinguishing devices can also provide more effective means for fire prevention and fire fighting of wooden ancient buildings. However, Zhou Qian emphasized that the fundamental premise of all fire prevention measures is that the cultural relics management department attaches great importance to it. Only by doing a good job in daily fire prevention inspections and eliminating various fire hazards in advance can we achieve "fire prevention before it happens."

Source: Science and Technology Daily, intern reporter Du Peng

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