ARKANSAS DECK COLLAPSE INJURES 6

Six people injured in deck collapse during house party

BY TRISH HOLLENBECK Northwest Arkansas Times

Monday, May 11, 2009

A deck collapsed Saturday at a house party in Fayetteville and sent six people to area hospitals.

Michael Leavitt The incident occurred at about 6 p.m. Saturday at 746 E. Westview Drive, according to information from Fayetteville Fire Department and Fayetteville Police Department records.

Six people were transported to either Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville or Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Capt. Dave Johnson of Central Emergency Medical Services said. The injuries were not life threatening, he said.

Arkasas Deck Failure

Johnson said four people were treated at the scene for minor cuts, and an additional two people refused to be transported. He said he was prevented from releasing names of the injured due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations.

The names were also unavailable from Fayetteville fire and police departments.

Johnson said ages of the injured varied from early 20s to late 60s or early 70s.

Mario Campos, battalion chief with the Fayetteville Fire Department, said he did not have any details on the type of party being held at the house, only that there had been a gathering there. He also had no details on how the deck collapsed, nor did the Fayetteville Police Department.

Johnson said there were five ambulances on the call, and that off-duty personnel were called in to help with the injured in the deck collapse, as well as to assist with a structure fire that occurred at about the same time in Fayetteville. (See related story.)

In addition, Johnson said, there were two bicyclists transported to Washington Regional on Saturday following an incident during the Joe Martin Stage Race. There were three other cyclists involved in the incident, he said, and they refused treatment. He said none of the injuries were life threatening.

Johnson said that due to the many incidents Saturday, "We had about 20 EMTs and paramedics come in to work."

He said the crews did an excellent job.

He also said extra staff were already on hand because of University of Arkansas graduation ceremonies and the bike race.

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Woman in good condition after deck collapse

BY TRISH HOLLENBECK Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Tuesday, May 12, 2009

One woman remains in Washington Regional Medical Center with injuries she sustained when a deck on the back of a house at 746 E. Westview Drive, Fayetteville, collapsed during a gathering Saturday.

Rose Mary Prendergrast was listed in good condition by a hospital spokeswoman Monday night.

Abby Darrah and Mary Lou Trzcinka have been treated and released from WRMC. The spokeswoman said earlier Monday that Peggy Smith had also been discharged from the hospital.

Natalie Cole was treated and released from Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, a spokeswoman at that hospital said Monday. Information about another person taken to the hospital was unavailable Monday because the person's complete name was not identified.

There were 15 people standing on the deck when it collapsed, said Kimberly Smith, owner of the home.

A biology faculty member at the University of Arkansas, Smith said the party was conducted to celebrate a doctoral student's graduation, and it was a surprise 50th birthday celebration for another biology faculty member.

He said it was a drop-in party from 3-7 p.m.

Of the 15 people who fell when the deck collapsed, he said, six were taken by ambulance to the two hospitals - four to WRMC and two to Northwest Medical Center in Springdale.

Four were treated for minor cuts and two refused treatment. This coincides with information from emergency personnel that was obtained Sunday.

The Fayetteville Fire Department and Central Emergency Medical Service responded to the collapse. There were no life-threatening injuries. Smith said Monday that this was a miracle.

Smith said he did not know why the deck collapsed, but on Monday workers were taking the hanging deck down for safety reasons. Smith said he is waiting on his insurance company to pursue the next step.

The incident occurred at about 6 p.m.

Smith said the deck "was like a trap door" when it collapsed.

"It happened so fast," he said. "Everyone was quiet."

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Experts Call For Proactive Prevention After Deck Collapse

Construction Experts Urge Deck Owners To Inspect Structures

May 11, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- After a deck collapsed at a graduation party at a home in Fayetteville on Saturday night, construction experts are calling on all deck owners to make sure their structures are secure.

The fire marshal is still investigating the cause of that deck collapse, and won't provide any details about it until an official report is compiled. But experts said whatever the investigation finds, it's important to prevent any repeats of what was a scary situation on Saturday night.

"It's pretty surreal. You just look over and people next to you are just kind of falling," said Russ Davis, who was on the deck at his friend's graduation party when it collapsed.

That's what Davis remembers about the moment the deck dropped out from under him. He was able to cling to a rail, but several other party-goers fell 12 feet."It was just a pile of bodies, basically. People were all just kind of on top of each other," Davis said.

A few people suffered broken bones. But Davis was OK and didn't see any problems with that deck.

"It looked as though everything was in good shape and nothing felt un-sturdy," Davis said.

"Sometimes I'm kind of amazed by the craftsmanship," said Paul Kelso, who owns Kelso Home Inspections.

Kelso deals with decks for a living and said more people need to take notice of theirs."

Just make sure that you're preventing the wood rot and wriggling the hand rails to make sure that they're secure," Kelso said.

Experts said you should pay attention to support poles, bolts -- and practice a little crowd control.

"People just need to be aware of how much actual weight you're putting on the deck and again, just looking at it every year, every spring, every fall, just making sure that it's still intact and in good condition," said Paul Kelso.

By law, decks only have to be inspected right after they're completed. But Kelso said it's a good idea to have a few follow-up inspections, even if you conduct them yourself.

Man, I bet that was scary! Twelve feet is quite a ways up. Will the home-owner's insurance company still pay if they find out deck was not up to code or would the damages then fall back on the contactor?

Apparently this was a commercial deck on a private residence. Sounds like a lawsuit unless it was just flat overloaded. This eerily reminds me of my days at the UA many years ago when a fraternity built their own deck on the front of the fraternity house for one of their many parties. I think it was the Fall Crawl or something. Of course, it wasn't engineered or to code. Just a bunch of teenagers slapping stuff together that looked like a deck. When it was weighed down with drunken dancing party-goers, it predictably collapsed. I believe one young soul was killed and many injured. Sad and I hope everyone recovers from this accident.

My wife, daughter and I were on the deck when it collapsed. The party was hosted by a professor to honor a student who had received his PhD earlier in the day. Our daughter, a friend of the honoree, had also received her PhD in the Saturday morning commencement. It was a large house with a beautiful multilevel deck. 20+ people did not make the area on the upper deck feel crowded.

The deck tore away from where it was attached to the house. The outer supports (6X6's) held firm so it felt like a trap door being opened below your feet.

Fayetteville fire and ambulance personnel arrived within 5 minutes. I can't give enough praise to the professionalism and efficiency of the first response people who helped us. There is no way I'll ever be able to thank each one personally, but I'll be forever indebted for the service they provided us.

What difference does it make if they were drinking, or even having a party, the problem was the deck. This sounds to me like an incident that happened back east, oops they were business associates and not teachers, either way in both situations involved a collapsing decks. So, instead of trying to blame the fact they were teachers, or that they were partying, and look at the codes that cover decks. Aparently, the formula they use isn't working anymore, and if not then how many more decks going to collapes.

That's why who thinks about partying all the time? Faculty and staff? People that live in Fayetteville? People that have houses?

Who knows why that many people would stand on a deck? Perhaps the weather was nice, perhaps the house was small, perhaps that's where the hors d'oeuvres were located.

Maybe they were drinking. Was that the cause of the accident? Did that make the people weigh more?

It appears to me that the root of the problem was just a faulty deck, but some people never pass up an opportunity to wag their finger and say tsk, tsk, tsk. Sure, shame on them for celebrating the end of the school year by having a party on a Saturday evening out on the deck.