Human-caused fire under University Bridge damages city sewer line for 2nd time

A human-caused fire under the arch of the University Bridge on Sunday damaged a sewer line and disrupted traffic. It's the second incident in just over a year.

The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to a small fire in an archway under the University Bridge on Sunday.

Firefighters were called to the scene just before 4 p.m. on March 8, the department said in a news release. Light smoke could be seen rising from the underside of an archway on the west side of the bridge when crews arrived.

“If anybody put plastic near or on a stove element, it doesn’t take a lot of heat to start deforming the plastic and then once that starts to happen, it can fairly quickly get out of control,” Brendon Lemke, Director of Water and Waste with the City of Saskatoon, told CTV News.

Firefighters scaled a ground ladder to access the archway and a ran a hose line up to put out the fire, according to the department.

It’s the second time that a human-caused fire has spread out of control at that location in just over a year, causing costly damage.

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The archways are hard to access, by design, and they have become a common spot for homeless residents to set up camp.

“We don’t really have any way of preventing someone. Where there’s a will, there’s a way is certainly what we’re seeing,” Lemke said.

“We’ve done our best. There’s barbed wire on the tops of the fence.”

Those who aren’t afraid of a risky climb can find decent shelter from wind and rain at the top of the arch, and since it’s difficult to access it offers more privacy than the average encampment.

Not incidentally, the bridge is also a conduit for vital city infrastructure.

This is the second time in just over a year that a human-caused fire at this location has caused sewer damage. Previous incidents include a January 2025 fire that spread from an encampment into the bridge’s internal structure, melting a sanitary sewer line, and a major fire in June 2023 that forced a full-day bridge closure.

On Sunday, the sanitary sewer line was again damaged. The heat rising up from the fire melted the pipe, which eventually gave way and ruptured.

The City of Saskatoon said crews have since cleaned up the sewage spill and an engineer has inspected the bridge, finding no structural damage.

All four lanes on the bridge are currently open to traffic, but the westbound curb lane at the top of the bridge is restricted to make room for a pump that’s feeding a sanitary sewer bypass line that’s running along the pedestrian walkway on the north side of the bridge, which is also closed.

Drivers heading west are reminded to use both lanes and zipper merge, or try another route.

The walkway on the south side remains open.

The city estimates traffic restrictions will be in place for the rest of the week as repairs continue.