Bridge Policy

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Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue has adopted a Board of Fire Commissioner’s policy to not drive Fire District apparatus across roadways with limited access or bridges without a Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue load limit sign.

Signs will be provided and placed by CKFR after a copy of the form is return completed along with a copy of the engineers report.

If you received a letter from our department, or if you think your property falls into one of the categories above, please click the links below for further information and necessary forms.

The Fire Service as an industry and in Washington State is starting to develop bridge access policies. These policies are intended to keep the emergency responders safe, limit damage to Fire District Apparatus and private property. Our internal safety committee, Operations and Fire Chief requested a policy to be written and voted on by the Board of Fire Commissioners.

If your location is on the other side of a bridge that cannot support the weight of out apparatus; we will not be able to respond to your location with those vehicles. We WILL respond to the bridge in question with our vehicles, but we may have to leave the vehicles and continue to your location by some other means. That may mean that we will have to respond on foot if necessary. If your location is quite a distance from the bridge in question our response would be delayed and possibly short on equipment.

No, we are not asking private bridge owners to rebuild or replace their bridge, only to have a licensed structural engineer document what load the bridge is capable of carrying. The county currently certifies its public bridges every 2 years. We have adopted a policy that requires a licensed engineer document the load carrying capacity of a private bridge every 5 years.

The updated policy went into effect on December 9, 2019.

To ensure that the load-limit signs are uniform in appearance and easily recognized by our responders we have decided to provide these signs at our expense. Because every bridge is different we will work with the property owner regarding the signs’ final placement.

Letter to Property Owner

Engineer Form – Apparatus Weight Chart

Board of Commissioner’s Policy – Using Limited Access Roadways and Bridges

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