Five dead in stage collapse at Indiana State Fair

[gunslingingbird]

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - A fifth person has died from the collapse of an outdoor concert stage in heavy wind just before a weekend show at the Indiana State Fair, which was shut down on Sunday, authorities said.

More than 40 people were injured in the collapse on Saturday night, just minutes before the country duo Sugarland was set to begin performing, Indiana State Police said.

This hits really close to home for me. As someone who has built outdoor structures many, many times over the past decade I can't help but thinking that the next one could be the one that I'm on. So far I've been fortunate enough to have never been on or near a stage when it collapsed, but I've experienced several related situations. A few years ago we had a rogue wind rip the cover off the stage 2 nights before Aerosmith was scheduled to play. Last year part of the stage collapsed at the Treasure Island Music Festival, and there were 3 people injured, though not severely. I just found out last week that the stage that collapsed during a Cheap Trick show in Canada was the exact same stage that I had helped build for Outside Lands last year.

I've built structures similar to the one in last night's catastrophe. It looks similar to Tomcat's KT-7 roof system, which is pretty standard for non-touring stages. I'm not sure what the wind rating is, but I've seen those things withstand 40 mph winds, so the gust that took down the structure at the fair must've been pretty strong.

Story

 

[Facetious]

How do these things collapse, gunny, aren't stages supported by all sorts of struts running horizontal, vertical and diagonal from top to bottom? They would seem to be bulletproof once assembled, no?

Wow, you have a fairly hazardous occupation there... there are sooo many things that can bite your ass if your not on your game. (I'm telling you .. like you didn't already know) :1orglaugh

 

[L3ggy]

Don't you go and die on me, GSB.

 

[Ulysses31]

Horrific moment the stage collapsed onto screaming crowd at Indiana State Fair ******* at least five and injuring 45

* Storm causes horrific accident at fair
* At least five people ****** and many more injured after stage collapsed
* ******** said to be among those injured after getting trapped under the rigging
* Construction worker crushed as well as engineer and young female teacher. 17-year-old boy may never walk again after breaking his back
* Organisers criticised for allowing the event to go ahead despite 60 mph (96 km/h) winds
* Singer speaks of how 'moved' she was by response to the accident

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-storm-Indiana-State-Fair.html#ixzz1V2YVRAWG


The moment strong winds caused the stage rigging for the outdoor concert to collapse at the fairground in Indianapolis

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

This hits really close to home for me. As someone who has built outdoor structures many, many times over the past decade I can't help but thinking that the next one could be the one that I'm on. So far I've been fortunate enough to have never been on or near a stage when it collapsed, but I've experienced several related situations. A few years ago we had a rogue wind rip the cover off the stage 2 nights before Aerosmith was scheduled to play. Last year part of the stage collapsed at the Treasure Island Music Festival, and there were 3 people injured, though not severely. I just found out last week that the stage that collapsed during a Cheap Trick show in Canada was the exact same stage that I had helped build for Outside Lands last year.

I've built structures similar to the one in last night's catastrophe. It looks similar to Tomcat's KT-7 roof system, which is pretty standard for non-touring stages. I'm not sure what the wind rating is, but I've seen those things withstand 40 mph winds, so the gust that took down the structure at the fair must've been pretty strong.

Story

70mph winds if I recall hearing on the news.
The video of that thing collapsing was horrific.

It really hits close to home with me as well as I've been to dozens of concerts - many outside by stages like that. I also sort of like Sugarland and Jennifer Nettles.

They were scheduled to go on just after it collapsed, do you suppose they should be counting their blessings today? Seems like they were just ready to go on. I figure they could have died as well or got severely injured.

From now on I sit in the mid section at outdoor venues.

A bunch of vids have been uploaded at the 'Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=indiana+state+fair+stage+collapse&aq=0z&oq=indiana+

 

[gunslingingbird]

How do these things collapse, gunny, aren't stages supported by all sorts of struts running horizontal, vertical and diagonal from top to bottom? They would seem to be bulletproof once assembled, no?

They aren't supported by struts. The entire structure is truss, in this case 18" medium-duty tower truss. Here's a Total Structures catalog, one of the 3 top manufacturers of truss for the entertainment industry, with some specifications on tower truss on pages 50 and 51. It mentions the weight load limits for different heights. I can't tell from the pictures if the structure was pinned or fixed, but if it was fixed, and if the trim height was the 60' that it appears to be, then each leg would be able to support 22,371 lbs. That's plenty more than enough to support a show (A large rig like the one Mötley Crüe is currently touring with weighs a total of about 70,000 pounds). Here's an instruction manual from Thomas, another manufacturer of truss, on how to build a structure, should you want to know more about it. Here's a load chart for medium-duty truss from Tomcat, just because I didn't wanna exclude Tomcat. Anyways, if you look through the specs you'll see that the structure didn't fail because of a design flaw, but because the wind exceeded what it was designed for. But, yes, in a perfect setting, properly built truss structures are about as bulletproof as you can get.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

.

A bunch of vids have been uploaded at the 'Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=indiana+state+fair+stage+collapse&aq=0z&oq=indiana+

There is a vid on there with a shitload of hits that shows all the people get crushed. Really scary stuff. Had to have been surreal to be there.

 

[Trident1]

Horrific moment the stage collapsed onto screaming crowd at Indiana State Fair ******* at least five and injuring 45

* Storm causes horrific accident at fair
* At least five people ****** and many more injured after stage collapsed
* ******** said to be among those injured after getting trapped under the rigging
* Construction worker crushed as well as engineer and young female teacher. 17-year-old boy may never walk again after breaking his back
* Organisers criticised for allowing the event to go ahead despite 60 mph (96 km/h) winds
* Singer speaks of how 'moved' she was by response to the accident

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-storm-Indiana-State-Fair.html#ixzz1V2YVRAWG


The moment strong winds caused the stage rigging for the outdoor concert to collapse at the fairground in Indianapolis

Holy smokes!:eek:

 

[STDiva]

moar liek Indiana State fail. amirite?

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Should be lawsuit Heaven, no?

This vid shows all the poor people get flattened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkdwrmzYXg

800K hits already.

 

[Elwood70]

Jesus Christ; what a way to go. RIP...

 

[ragincaucasian]

this seems like a big deal now, but it'll all blow over

 

[Straight Shooter]

this seems like a big deal now, but it'll all blow over

I see what you did there

 

[dbradford8589]

They are lucky only 5 died, it could been alot worse. I used to go to a local music festival with a similar stage that almost came done the last time I went, now I don't go anymore.

 

[Torre82]

Those winds sucked. I'm right above indianapolis and saw the rest of it. Lightning hell.

 

[ragincaucasian]

the youtube is filled with disturbing videos. This one captures a bunch of suicidal Russians jumping off a bridge over the weekend

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

the youtube is filled with disturbing videos. This one captures a bunch of suicidal Russians jumping off a bridge over the weekend

What exactly is your point? That that video I linked to was in poor taste? :dunno:

It's Youtube dude. It's the new age and everyone and their 3 year old ******** now have cellies. Anyone and everyone can posts videos on Youtube at any time.

And FTR those Russians didn't even commit suicide.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

On a completely unrelated topic, anybody hear from A-Ry recently?

 

[gunslingingbird]

The moment strong winds caused the stage rigging for the outdoor concert to collapse at the fairground in Indianapolis

Actually, that's a completely false statement. The stage rigging (not to be confused with Stage Rigging ) held up despite the winds. See that row of Varilite movers on the downstage edge of the grid are still there? See those scoops used for house lights fastened to the truss just above the Varilites? See the stacks of either Vertec or V-Dosc (I can't tell which they are because I'm not a sound guy) line array PAs still hanging with their characteristic arc shape? THAT is the stage rigging. Rigging means to suspend an object from a point in the air by means of ropes, slings, chains, and chain hoists. Yes, the truss structure technically does fall in the rigging department, but the rigging itself held up. :error:

 

[hexsianide]

That band really brought the stage down