Quick responses obviously are crucial to the Tonganoxie City Fire Department.

But firefighters and others in this Leavenworth County community are concerned they are losing precious seconds because a bridge on a main Tonganoxie thoroughfare recently was deemed off-limits for large vehicles – including fire trucks and ambulances.

“Our average response time now is about four and a half minutes,” said Fire Chief Dave Bennett. “Now it will take about seven minutes. In seven minutes, a lot can happen in a fire or a medical call.”

And it’s not just the fire trucks.

“No garbage trucks, no fire trucks, no school buses,” City Administrator Mike Yanez said. “It’s a weak link in a very significant roadway in the city. We cannot deny the reality that that bridge needs to be replaced.”

Kansas Department of Transportation officials agree, and they’ve moved the bridge on Pleasant Street up on its list of projects. But until it’s fixed, the city is trying to determine how to work around the problem – perhaps by constructing a temporary emergency route on a gravel road or by building a satellite fire station elsewhere in town.

Of particular concern, the fire chief said, is the city’s nursing center, where Bennett said firefighters had used the bridge at least seven times a week to respond to emergency calls. The recent 5-ton weight limit had forced the chief to find a new route to the center, which has added several minutes to a response time in which every second counts.

The lightest emergency vehicle in the fire department’s fleet, not counting the department’s sport utility vehicle, which is not capable of fighting fires, weighs about 6.5 tons. Its largest vehicle tips the scales at 23 tons.

City Engineer Brian Kingsley said he had asked the bridge inspector what risk the city would take if an emergency were to occur and a truck drove over the bridge.

“Is this something we can drive a fire truck over 10 times? What about the 11th time? Well, that can’t be calculated.”

He compared the bridge to a paper clip, “You can keep bending it and bending it, but sooner or later it is going to break.”

City staff could not find records of the original bridge design, but did come across records for the bridge dating back to the late 1800s.

“Even if you don’t have an engineering background you can tell it’s a significant problem,” Kingsley said. “You can see the deterioration.”

Only regular commuter traffic is on the bridge until it can be replaced.