Building Under Construction Collapses, Kills 11 Workers
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A five-story condominium under construction in Cocoa Beach, Fla., collapsed, killing 11 construction workers and trapping others. Twenty-three were injured. Because of the precarious arrangement and quantity of debris, the rescue operation was especially difficult. It continued for about 60 hours and involved participation by over 80 agencies.
Harbor Cay Condominiums was to be a 119-unit building overlooking the Banana River, part of the intercoastal waterway. The building was being constructed in the common flat plate design with precast concrete slabs stacked on concrete columns. The first floor had already been blocked in. As many as 60 workers were on the site, and many had just completed pouring the roof concrete on the football-field-size structure when it fell last March 27.
The Cocoa Beach Fire Department received the call at 2:54 p.m. and dispatched two engines and a rescue truck. Brevard County Ambulance Service which is county operated, was also dispatched. When Fire Chief Bob Walker arrived on the scene his worst fears were confirmed.
Twisted metal, cloud of dust
The structure’s four-story elevator tower did not collapse, but the rest did, leaving only tons of twisted metal and jagged concrete slabs. Liquid concrete covered the debris 2 feet thick. Every floor and the roof had pancaked without warning. A huge dust cloud enveloped the site.
Some uninjured construction workers were running back and forth through the debris, trying to help their injured comrades. Early-arriving ambulances had come from different directions and were parked facing each other on the narrow access road. Their crews had already located some victims and were loading them in their units. Some of the victims were walking around in a daze, many covered with blood. Others could be seen pinned in the pile of rubble.
Walker realized that an organized rescue effort was necessary, so a command post was set up on the northeast corner of the debris. A triage area was set up and manned by fire department EMTs and county ambulance paramedics. The ambulances were turned around so that they faced in the same direction and a one-way traffic pattern was established on the site for emergency vehicles. The area was roped off to keep out spectators.
Disaster plan
Walker placed the city’s disaster plan into effect. Brevard County officials quickly followed suit. All fire services in the county were notified of the incident, and they began to dispatch rescue units and manpower to the scene. Atlantic Ave. soon became clogged with sightseers and emergency vehicles attempting to reach the scene. This problem was quickly controlled when police restricted two of the avenue’s four lanes to emergency vehicles only.
Walker had no idea how many victims were under the rubble. An inch-by-inch search plan was begun. Victims who could be seen or heard were removed, treated at the triage station and then transported to nearby hospitals that had been alerted to stand by. Obvious fatalities were left in place so that the search for live victims could be continued. Positions of fatalities were marked on the concrete slabs that trapped them so that they could be located for later removal.
—photos by Wes Ault.
On-site cranes were used in the initial effort, but heavy equipment soon began arriving from other construction sites. A 140-ton crane, the same one used by NASA in the space shuttle program, arrived from nearby Kennedy Space Center.
Crane riggers, torch people, laborers and countless other construction workers volunteered their expertise to the effort. Local physicians volunteered their services and manned the triage station. Thirty-five prisoners arrived from Brevard County Institute, and nearby Patrick Air Force Base sent two medivac helicopters and several airmen to the scene.
Communications
Brevard County District Fire Chief Don Gilroy and Brevard County Public Safety Coordinator Jim Adkins joined Walker at the command post. The county’s civil defense communications van provided equipment that included multichannel capabilities, including amateur radio channels. The county mutual-aid frequency was used as the primary frequency during the operation.
Initial search and rescue efforts were hampered by the noises from aircraft flying overhead, boats in the nearby river, heavy equipment and over 150 rescuers. Patrick AFB flight controllers quickly directed all aircraft from the area, and the U.S. Coast Guard and marine patrol cleared the shoreline of unauthorized boats. Every few minutes an order was issued by the command post for complete silence, and all machines were shut down. Rescuers stood silently as sound-sensing devices from Patrick probed the debris for any sound of life.
In the first two hours, 23 survivors were triaged and taken to hospitals. Their injuries ranged from minor cuts to badly crushed bones. The spot where every victim was found was marked by a pole with an orange ribbon attached. At 5:45 p.m. crews pulled what would be the last survivor from the debris.
No list of workers
Five fatalities had been removed and at least five more were known to be in the rubble. The Cocoa Beach Police Department and the Brevard County Sheriffs Department worked with contractors, subcontractors and concerned family and friends to make a list of possible workers who had been on the site when the collapse occurred. But the command post realized that an accurate list would not be possible and the decision was made to continue the search and rescue effort until every stone was turned.
A flatbed trailer was set up close to the site to be used by the news media. Every major national network was represented before the operation was complete. News releases were issued at intervals by the command post.
Safety gear required
Helmets or hard hats and gloves were made a requirement by Walker for any worker on the site, and he assigned men to watch for any violations. The elevator tower still stood above the rescue scene, and the chief was concerned that the earth-shaking rumbling of the heavy equipment might cause it to topple. Despite the massive use of heavy rescue tools, bulldozers, cranes, front end loaders, etc., only minor injuries to rescuers were reported.
Patrick AFB provided tents that were used as a receiving station for volunteers, a food station manned by the Red Cross, an acetylene repair station, a supply station and a first aid station for rescue workers. A canteen truck responded from the Merritt Island Fire Department.
Rescue workers were placed on a four-hour shift schedule with four hours off, and a county-operated bus complete with beds was used for a rest station.
Brevard County provided a fuel truck which made rounds of the site filling tanks on compressors, cranes, bulldozers and circular saws.
The county medical examiner used a military ambulance as a temporary morgue on Friday, but he would be provided with a refrigerated truck on Saturday.
The local utility company set up poles equipped with floodlights powered by portable generators to provide lighting after dark.
Last fatality removed
Rescuers worked through the night and into the next day, cutting reinforcement wire, breaking concrete and burning through steel. At 4:34 p.m. on Saturday, the 10th body was removed from the debris. At 11 a.m. on Sunday, the 11th fatality was removed. Rescue workers continued their efforts until 2 a.m. Monday when, according to Walker, “…the last rock was turned over.”
Five county fire districts and 16 municipal fire departments responded to the disaster. Walker has nothing but praise for anyone who took part in the operation. “Anything that I asked for, I got. It didn’t seem like I had to wait too long for anything.”
The cause of the collapse is still being investigated by state and federal authorities in the hopes that future disasters may be prevented. Meanwhile, Walker is preparing for his next disaster. “I feel that our resource list was not thorough enough. Fire officials need to realize that they will have to reach out beyond the resources of area fire departments when a disaster occurs.”
