OTTAWA  A 51-year-old former Ottawa area fire chief and a New York State Trooper were electrocuted Sunday afternoon while fixing flat tires on a truck on the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, about an hour south of Ottawa.

According to New York State Police, Pierre Surprenant, 51, was driving an antique fire truck and towing a trailer containing an antique fire chief's vehicle across the border when he stopped on the bridge to repair the larger truck's right rear tires.

Mr. Surprenant asked Trooper Shawn W. Snow, 47, to assist him, and the two men raised the fire truck's ladder in order to redistribute the weight away from the back of the truck. The ladder came in contact with a high voltage power line, which carried the current through the truck, killing the two men instantly.

The bridge was closed while the accident was investigated, and re-opened about 9 a.m. Monday.

Mr. Surprenant, the former fire chief at the Ottawa International Airport, was returning to his Montreal-area home following a weekend gathering in Syracuse to mark the 50th anniversary of The Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America.

He had been teaching firefighting at a school in the Montreal area for the past several months. Society members collect and restore old fire fighting vehicles and equipment.

Will Brooks, past-president of the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation, said Mr. Surprenant was working to restore the large vehicle, a 1960 Pierre Thibault Ltd. ladder truck.

He was towing a 1909 Model T Ford, dressed as a chief's car, that had once been owned by the Bytown Fire Brigade. "He was very excited about the weekend, because it was the first time he'd shown the vehicle outside Quebec," Mr. Brooks said.

"We're waiting to find out just what happened," Mr. Brooks said. "Pierre was very safety-conscious and we can't understand how this occurred. Perhaps it was dark and he couldn't see the wires, we just don't know."

Mr. Surprenant had served on the board of the firefighters' foundation. Jim Durrell, former chairman of the board at the Ottawa International Airport, remembered Mr. Surprenant as a "gentleman," who was "very good at what he did.

"The airport has been blessed with a lot of very, very good people, and he was no exception to the rule," Mr. Durrell, also the former mayor of Ottawa, said.

Shortly before noon Monday, the flags at Ottawa fire stations were lowered to half-staff as a tribute to Mr. Surprenant.

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