Blaze damages historic bridge spanning Tiber River in Rome

ROME (AP) — A blaze that possibly was sparked by a gas canister explosion has destroyed part of an historic bridge spanning the Tiber River in Rome. Firefighters said the fire erupted before midnight Saturday near the Ostiense neighborhood and by early Sunday the flames were extinguished. No one was injured. The blaze appeared to have started in an area of shacks occupied by homeless persons on the river banks near Industry Bridge and spread to the span itself.  A section of the bridge’s outer pedestrian walkway and stretch under the roadbed carrying utility lines broke off and fell into the Tiber. The bridge’s 1863 inauguration was attended by Pope Pius IX.