Oxbow Bridge Fire Cuts Key Arizona Route to California

CIBOLA, Arizona — The Oxbow Bridge was destroyed by fire, blocking a vital route connecting the Arizona community of Cibola in La Paz County to California. The bridge collapsed into the Colorado River on August 1, severing a shortcut to Yuma.

The Bureau of Land Management labeled the route as ‘impassable.’ The wooden bridge linked Levee Road to the west side of the Colorado River and was destroyed by the ‘Oxbow 2 Fire,’ which consumed about five acres near the Oxbow Recreation and Wildlife Area.

Brad Robinson, a local farmer from Blythe, California, witnessed the fire and called 911. ‘You knew it was done. There was no saving it,’ he said. The fire began nearby in brush and quickly spread to the bridge, engulfing it in flames. ‘Next thing you know, the whole entire bridge was burning,’ Robinson recalled. It took less than two hours for the bridge to fully collapse.

The Bureau of Land Management is investigating the cause of the fire. To ensure safety, the Bureau of Reclamation has deployed buoys to mark the submerged hazard in the water. They urged boaters to avoid the area due to floating debris and unmarked dangers downstream.

Multiple agencies responded to the fire, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Robinson noted that the Oxbow Bridge had burned down before and advocated for removing brush around wooden structures to prevent future fires. ‘If there had been no brush around that bridge, that bridge would have never burned,’ he said.