Fire under Purdy Bridge started from cooking fire ‘out of control,’ officials say
Smoke was billowing over the Purdy Bridge after a cooking fire broke out underneath it, leading to significant traffic backups Friday morning, according to the Key Peninsula Fire Department.
The Key Peninsula Fire Department posted on Facebook at 9:07 a.m. that the fire was under control and that “traffic is getting through however there is a significant backup.” A second post at 9:14 a.m. said that the fire was out.
“This was a cooking fire that got out of control,” the department posted.
Key Peninsula Fire Department spokesperson Anne Nesbit wrote in a text message at 9:35 a.m. that personnel are “still in mop up.”
“Traffic is better,” she wrote. “Units have cleared.”
She did not immediately respond to questions about how the fire began or any injuries. Asked whether the bridge has sustained any structural damage, she wrote that the bridge isn’t showing any spalling, which means breaking off in fragments. There appears to be “just staining from the smoke,” she wrote.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more information from the Key Peninsula Fire Department about whether the fire damaged the bridge.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 9:55 AM.
