Skyline Towers collapse: 46 years ago this month [View all]

[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.
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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."
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