Balcony tragedy victims fighting for lives
Students’ parents arrive at hospitals in wake of accident US official says balcony was only meant to be ‘decorative’
TWO of the victims of the J1 student tragedy in California are fighting for their lives in hospital.
Many of the parents and relatives of the Irish students killed and injured in the Berkeley balcony collapse arrived in San Francisco last night.
Members of the local Irish-American community are providing support and transport to the families as they seek to come to terms with the trauma of the accident, which claimed the lives of six students and left another seven seriously injured.
Irish Consul to San Francisco Philip Grant is helping the families as they met with the Alameda County Coroner to prepare for the heart-breaking journey home with the bodies of their children in the coming days.
Seven students are still being treated in hospitals. Aoife Beary from Blackrock, Dublin, and Hannah Waters from Castleknock, Dublin, are both in a critical condition. Their parents have been by their bedsides at Oakland Hospital since arriving on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Irish Independent has learned that the balcony which collapsed killing the six students was designed only as a decorative feature.
Investigations into the tragedy are focusing on the possibility that dry rot caused the collapse.
However, it has also emerged the balcony was at the centre of a planning wrangle 13 years ago between the City of Berkeley Design Review Committee and the complex developers.
A February 2002 memo reveals that city planners insisted they “need samples of balcony material” and that they would “prefer a lighter touch for two balconies on the Kittredge side”.
Former Berkeley Design Review Committee official, Carrie Olson, who abstained from the approval vote, said the balconies were for decorative rather than practical purposes.
“[ They were] definitely not large enough to be what the city would call an ‘open-space balcony’, where groups of people could stand outside,” she said.
THE balcony which collapsed causing the deaths of six Irish students was only originally included in the San Francisco building design as a decorative feature.
The Irish Independent has learned the balconies became the focus of a planning wrangle a decade ago between the City of Berkeley Design Review Committee and the developers, Segue Ltd.
A February 21, 2002, briefing memo about the building revealed City of Berkeley planners insisted they “need sample of balcony material” and that they would “prefer a lighter touch for two balconies on the Kittredge side”.
It was a fourth-storey balcony in the building that failed, sending six students to their deaths and leaving seven others badly injured at 12.41am last Monday.
The City of Berkeley investigation is now focused on the water-proofing of eight critical wooden structural supports for the balcony.
Mayor of Berkeley Tom Bates yesterday told reporters he believed the wood had not been sealed properly and this may have led to moisture damage.
He said that appeared to be the primary cause of the tragedy.
“More than likely, it was caused by rain and water damage that was caused to the support beams,” he said.
Backtrack
However shortly afterwards, Mr Bates appeared to backtrack and issued a statement in which he stressed he was not qualified to make such a judgment.
“It was speculation on my part about possible water damage to the wood supports for the balcony.
“That is not an official conclusion. I am not a structural engineer and am not qualified to make a judgment,” he added.
Both San Francisco civil engineers and Library Gardens complex residents yesterday said dry rot was feared to have degraded the timber supports.
Berkeley officials are also examining resident complaints of flooding in February 2013.
The balconies were initially intended to be decorative when the plans for the complex were submitted for approval a decade ago.
Former Berkeley Design Review Committee official Carrie Olson, who abstained from the approval vote, said the balconies were for decorative rather than practical purposes.
“(They were) definitely not large enough to be what the city would call an ‘open-space balcony’, where groups of people could stand outside,” she said.
Under a 57-page California planning regulation dating from 1998 and applied to the complex, it emerged the balconies were simply required to have a structural capacity to handle 28kg (60lbs) per square foot.
Accelerating
City official Matthai Chakko said the investigation into the tragedy was accelerating.
The City of Berkeley later confirmed a second balcony at the Library Gardens complex had now been found to be structurally unsafe and was a “collapse hazard”.
BlackRock Ltd, which serves as the investment adviser for a real estate fund which owns Library Gardens, said that it was “terribly saddened by the tragic incident” and that it was in contact with the building’s management company and an independent structural engineer.