A former Ottawa fire chief and a New York state trooper were electrocuted Sunday afternoon while they were stopped on the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge, just south of Ottawa.

Pierre Surprenant, 51, was driving back to Canada in his 1960 Pierre Thibault Ltd. antique fire truck after participating in a show in Syracuse.

He was towing a trailer carrying his own vintage car - a 1909 Model T Ford formerly of Ottawa's Bytown Fire Brigade - when his rear tire went flat, said Ogdensburg Police Chief Richard Polniak.

Surprenant stopped on the international bridge to repair the tire. Trooper Shawn W. Snow, 47, was assisting when Surprenant raised the fire truck's ladder to change the tire. The ladder came in contact with a power line, killing the two men instantly.

Police received a call Sunday around 4:45 p.m. that a fire truck was in flames near the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge.

Surprenant was the fire chief at the Ottawa International Airport before he moved to Montreal. 

The Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge was closed overnight Sunday as police investigated but reopened Monday morning around 5:30 a.m.

With files from The Canadian Press