Railroad bridge fire disrupts Easter camping in Glades County

GLADES COUNTY, Fla. —

A fire destroyed a vital railroad bridge in Palmdale, Florida, disrupting local camping traditions and prompting an investigation into its cause.

The fire occurred in Glades County, just north of the intersection of State Road 29 and U.S. 27.

"The fire was everywhere. And then like the bridge was collapsing and falling in the water, and the water was boiling and stuff," said Elijah Gil-Ramos.

Gil-Ramos and his family visit Fisheating Creek Campground every year for Easter. Instead of waking up to the usual train horn, they found smoke still burning from the railroad bridge.

Gil-Ramos' grandmother, Vickie Held, said, "I could immediately start feeling, you know, the pressure in the lungs. My mom's 86 years old, almost, and we thought we were going to have to evacuate her, especially because even way back, we're camped by the lake, which is about a mile away."

Held's cousin, the train engineer who usually sounds the horn for the family during their visit, contacted her about the fire.

"He contacted me and said that he's not going to be able to go through because of the fire, and they didn't know how long it was going to be before they were able to rebuild it. So I don't know what that means for work or for, you know, the train, railroad industry," Held said.

The campground has shut down water activities due to debris in the creek, putting the family's camping traditions on hold.

"We like to sit around the fire and make s'mores. And we do this every year. It's a family tradition. So we were upset about that. But now that this happened, we completely understand why they have that ban in order," Held said.

Reid, a child at the camp, expressed his disappointment.

"Yeah, it's pretty sad because that's, was one fun part of the trip. We come every year for Easter. So knowing we can't canoe, it's kind of sad."

The Glades County Sheriff's Office is still investigating how the fire started Sunday morning.

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