Skyline Towers collapse: 46 years ago this month

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Skyline Towers collapse



Firemen bring out a worker injured in the collapse

Date: March 2, 1973
Location: Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia
Coordinates: 38.84415°N 77.12074°W
Cause: Building collapse due to premature removal of shoring
Outcome: 14 construction workers killed, 35 injured

On March 2, 1973, the 26-story Skyline Plaza apartment building, under construction in Bailey's Crossroads in Fairfax County, Virginia, collapsed, killing 14 construction workers and injuring 35 others.
....

Collapse

The building collapsed while shoring was being removed from newly poured concrete between the 22nd and 23rd floors of the building, and more concrete was being placed on the 24th floor. A climbing crane on the 24th floor fell to the ground in the collapse. It was initially falsely assumed that the collapse was related to the fall of the crane. The collapse left a gap 60 feet (18 m) wide in the building from top to bottom, leaving it looking like two separate buildings.

A Fairfax County police officer witnessed the collapse and radioed the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 2:18 p.m. Units responded from Fairfax County, Arlington County and Alexandria, Virginia. According to local officials, 55 men were working in the area. The day following the collapse, it was speculated that the cave-in stretched all the way to the second or third basement floor.

Cause

Fairfax County hired Professor Ingvar Schoushoe of the University of Illinois, Urbana, a civil engineer, to investigate the cause of the collapse. He determined that the collapse occurred because of the premature removal of shoring from beneath newly poured floors.

George Taylor, a workman for Northwest Sheet Metal, Inc., claimed that workmen were pulling concrete supports "out too damn fast. They're trying to hustle the job too damn fast."
....

[The River]

1. I Had To Survey

the damage a few week after the collapse.
Climbing up a few floors into the wreckage
we took measurements along the edge of the "gap"
with transit and tape.

I'd forgotten that particular nightmare of a job.
Thanks....?

[marble falls]

2. Sound familiar ...

The concrete subcontractor at the Skyline Plaza condominium complex, Miller & Long's vice president Roger Gilbert Arnold was indicted on manslaughter charges for the deaths of Danny Ray White, Clemons Riley Holcomb, and Daniel R. Wilhite. Arnold was charged because, as the senior Miller and Long official present he was responsible for the actions of the men who removed the shoring. The maximum punishment for felony involuntary manslaughter was 1 to 5 years imprisonment.[9] Arnold was later acquitted of all charges.[11]

Miller & Long was fined $300 for failing to use adequate shoring beneath newly poured concrete floors. It was ruled by a judge that the building's owner, the Charles E. Smith Co., could not be held criminally responsible for the actions of its subcontractors.[10]

Federal officials charged Miller & Long $13,000 for violations of worker safety codes.[11]

Fairfax County barred resumption of construction at the site for 16 months following the accident. Permission to resume construction was later granted. Work resumed in July 1974 and was completed in 1977.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Video

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read.php?2,1009677,3083093,page=113#msg-3083093

Re: Old pictures of Fairfax county, love em!
Posted by: Fran Conia ()
Date: March 09, 2019 04:08PM

I came across this video of the skyline towers collapse. I thought some of you Fairfax county old timers might find it interesting.