USA TODAY International Edition
Madison County bridge burns again
MADISON COUNTY One of the iconic Madison County covered bridges that inspired a bestselling novel, movie and Broadway play was destroyed by fire early Saturday morning — and Sheriff Jason Barnes doesn’t believe it was an accident.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office received a report of the fire at the Cedar Bridge at about 6 a. m. The bridge was fully engulfed by the time fire crews and law enforcement got to the scene, according to a news release from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
Barnes says there was no electricity or light source at the bridge and no severe weather or lightning in the area, so the fire will be investigated as arson.
Barnes called the famed bridge, which graced the cover of Robert James Waller’s 1992 book The Bridges of Madison County, a “total loss.”
“It’s pretty bad,” Barnes said. “When you think of Madison County, you think of those bridges. It’s a direct attack.”
The original Cedar Bridge was built in 1883 and burned in 2002. Investigators quickly determined that fire to be arson, but no arrests were ever made despite a $ 10,000 reward offered by Waller. The author, whose book became a 1995 movie starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood and a 2014 Broadway play, visited some of the bridges in October 2002, a month after the fire.
But not the Cedar. “I don’t know if I’m up to it,” he said at the time. Waller died in March.
About a year later, another Madison County bridge was the target of arsonists; the Hogback Bridge sustained minimal damage when it was set on fire in September 2003.
The Cedar Bridge was rebuilt and reopened in 2004. Barnes said he believes the reconstruction cost about $ 1 million.
The last time Madison County lost a bridge to arson — the McBride Bridge — was in 1983. Authorities arrested a local man.
Barnes said there are no security devices surrounding the bridge. He noted the sheriff’s office didn’t have any suspects on Saturday morning.
“All we know is somebody’s upset about something,” Barnes said. “I don’t know what and I don’t know why. There’s still a lot of questions.”