WORK IS CONTINUING AT THE COLLAPSED PARKING GARAGE in Atlanta, Georgia, today as most of the cars are being made available for removal and structural engineers try to determine why the floor failed on the 4th-level on June 29. (See Firegeezer reports HERE and HERE.)
AJC / Spink photo
Slowing the inspections were the questionable structural safety of the damaged area and the prevalence of gasoline vapors and oil pools from the smashed cars. The FD brought in a large number of ventilation fans and continued to blanket the hazard area with foam. The large amount of foam used led to an unexpected surprise for some people several miles away when the runoff was carried through the storm drains and resurfaced at some street grates sending some small rivulets of foam along the roadways.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the initial findings of the cause:
David Tyndall, head of Gateway Development, which owns the decks, told WSB-TV Wednesday the floors collapsed because a “spandrel” beam — an exterior beam that extends from column to column and marks the floor level between stories — “popped out.”
What Tyndall couldn’t explain is, what forced the spandrel beam out.
That discovery will be critical, structural engineering experts said. Parking lots, like most structures, are “over-designed” to handle weight that is much more than designated, to allow for increased stress and to allow for small mistakes during construction.
WAGA-TV has a video update on the work progress:
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