Mayerthorpe's CN trestle bridge rebuilt after major fire

A CN trestle bridge has been rebuilt in Mayerthorpeless than a month after it was destroyed by fire during a string of arsons.

• CN Rail trestle bridge destroyed in suspicious fire at Mayerthorpe, Alta.
• Arson charges laid in connection to Mayerthorpe CN Rail trestle bridge fire
• Former Mayerthorpe mayor defends son accused of arson in CN fire

CN crews worked 20 days straight to replace the 1,200-foot wooden bridge that went up in flames on April 26.The new bridge was completed on May 15, the companyconfirmed in anemail.

About190,000 metric tons of steel, concrete and fill was used to create part of the new bridge. It's 292 feet longer than the old one, andstands about 46 feet tall.

RCMP have laid charges in relation to the fire that destroyed the original bridge, just one of more than a dozensuspicious fires last month that plagued the community, about 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

Lawson Michael Schalm, a 19-year-old man from Mayerthorpe, was charged with 18 counts of arson.

Agriculture and forestry services members, helicopters, a water bomber, andthree dozen firefighters were called to help douse the flames on the bridge.

Schalmwasone of those firefighters.

Rail service has been restored between Mayerthorpe and Whitecourt.