# Stage Collapses at Indiana State Fair **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647 "2011-08-14T03:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/1 "2011-08-14T03:00:20Z")
Sugarland concert stage collapsed onto fans. 4 confirmed dead. Ugh. > **[Indianapolis Local News: Weather, Traffic, Sports and more | Indianapolis,...](https://www.wthr.com/)** > > WTHR.com is the news leader for Indianapolis and Central Indiana. Get the latest news and breaking news from the Eyewitness News team. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/2 "2011-08-14T03:13:47Z")
From the article and pics I’ve seen, it wasn’t really the stage, it was the truss roof system that collapsed. I’m sure I’ll be hearing all about this in the coming week; I just hope none of my friends were involved. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/3 "2011-08-14T03:19:58Z")
There’s a video on YouTube here: [Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse! Sugarland Concert - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpzTOTo_UI). They’ve revised it to 3 dead, 24 injured. ---
**Author:** ![Violet\_Femme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/2bfe46/32.png) [@Violet\_Femme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet_Femme)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/4 "2011-08-14T03:52:02Z")
My mother was there. She’s a nurse and was asked to go to triage and help. She said it was madness. Said a strong wind just blew through and it collapsed. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/5 "2011-08-14T03:59:24Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > From the article and pics I’ve seen, it wasn’t really the stage, it was the truss roof system that collapsed. That’s what it looked like to me too. But if that’s the case it would seem the roof was not nearly secured enough - it didn’t look like the wind was bad enough that a properly built structure could not withstand it. A real shame. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/6 "2011-08-14T05:15:09Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > There’s a video on YouTube here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpzTOTo\_UI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpzTOTo_UI). They’ve revised it to 3 dead, 24 injured. Very difficult to make out what happened, except it’s clear that it was the roof structure that collapsed. I have my suspicions as to what may have happened, based on my own experience building similar structures, but I don’t want to speculate publicly without more information. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/7 "2011-08-14T05:59:41Z")
Thoughts going out to the injured…the dead are past anything I can do. Was there too much weight (lights, etc.) for the available structure? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/8 "2011-08-14T06:41:28Z")
The whole thing toppled forward, towards the audience. The speakers are all hung from the very front of the truss system to get them as close to the audience as possible, so the load is very unbalanced. [This image is absolutely astonishing](http://www.billboard.com/photos/stylus/1178699-indiana-stage-collapse-617.jpg). Those black strips are the speakers, a type called “line arrays”. There looks to be two stacks of eight or ten on each side, each speaker weighing 200 pounds, so there could easily be 2 to 4 tons just in speakers. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/9 "2011-08-14T06:54:05Z")
I keep looking at that picture, and I don’t think it would have collapsed if the system had guy wires. I suspect it had none. [Here is some video footage](http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/video/eyewitness-account-ivan-gratz) of a bunch of people trying to lift the trusses. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/10 "2011-08-14T07:21:38Z")
[Better quality video of the collapse](http://www.wthr.com/story/15262930/stage-collapses-at-state-fairgrounds?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6150730). ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/11 "2011-08-14T07:30:59Z")
DAMN! The entire roof collapsed forward into the crowd. This should never have happened. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/12 "2011-08-14T08:40:47Z")
I’ve been trying to come up with a decent comparison of the structure. So far, the best I can think of is - a circus tent, mounted on six fifty foot high telephone poles, with four elephants dangling from the front edge. But without the stakes and guy wires the circus tent would normally have. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/13 "2011-08-14T10:50:22Z")
Clearly any such structure should be engineered to withstand stronger winds than what would accompany any weather event in which fairgoers would still be on the premises. I don’t expect it to take a tornado, but people won’t be out in that; occasional strong gusting shouldn’t be a concern, though. This has been a [bad](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stage-collapses-cheap-trick-concert-212425) [summer](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/massive-flaming-lips-set-piece-220439) for the intersection of weather and performance rigs. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/14 "2011-08-14T12:42:39Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > They’ve revised it to 3 dead, 24 injured. That was the first figure… then it got bumped up to 4 dead, 43 injured. This morning they are calling it 4 dead, 40+ injured. A local anchor just said they were called by the brother of one of the injured saying that he died in the hospital within the last hour but the coroner hasn’t confirmed the 5th death yet. Just interviewed the brother… 5th guy was running the spotlights and was in the scaffolding when it fell. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/15 "2011-08-14T14:39:37Z")
One question on my mind was whether or not this stage was properly constructed. The reports were of a wind gust up to 70 mph which yes, is strong, but winds of that speed _do_ occur multiple times a year in the region and it seems to me that any structure of that sort needs to be built to cope with that. Wind gusts that high are a known risk. Well, there’s an investigation underway, perhaps it will generate some answers. The video of the crowd trying to lift the structure, when only moments before they had been running for their lives, was amazing. After all the horrible news this week it was heartwarming to see people acting selflessly during a crisis. I don’t know if their effort helped save a life or help someone injured but they certainly did try. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/16 "2011-08-14T14:57:53Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > One question on my mind was whether or not this stage was properly constructed. It seems to me that there are are only three _possible_ conclusions: 1. The engineering design was faulty. 2. The design was sound, but the assembly was faulty. 3. The design and assembly were sound, but the structure was sabotaged. The last, of course, is pretty far-fetched. Presumably the design and assembly were under the purview of the same company, so the ultimate legal responsibility probably stops in the same place either way. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/17 "2011-08-14T16:14:29Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > That was the first figure… then it got bumped up to 4 dead, 43 injured. This morning they are calling it 4 dead, 40+ injured. A local anchor just said they were called by the brother of one of the injured saying that he died in the hospital within the last hour but the coroner hasn’t confirmed the 5th death yet. > > Just interviewed the brother… 5th guy was running the spotlights and was in the scaffolding when it fell. I thought that was a possibility when I saw the pictures of the stage setup. Large stages like this usually have a pair of manually operated spotlights The operator is seated in [a chair suspended from the lighting truss](http://www.jamesthomas.co.uk/jte/images/chair.jpg), aiming a spotlight also hung from the truss. ---
**Author:** ![FizzyCoco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9a140/32.png) [@FizzyCoco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FizzyCoco)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/18 "2011-08-14T16:53:31Z")
I know it’s only been 24hours, but I’m conflicted-ly happy to say, that you are the only thread I’ve seen so far questioning the flaw in engineering. I want to know, is it the same company that built this stage and the one that collapsed after the Black Keys concert? Something about the structural integrity of these designs seems flawed, but not just the engineering; who’s inspecting these beasts of stages? I’ve began working a lot of semi-private festivals where giant “art structures” are erected with no inspection, but shouldn’t these huge stages be being looked at by the state or whoever benefits from the revenue brought about by these shows? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/19 "2011-08-14T17:27:20Z")
Here is the best video I’ve seen of it. No commercials, no news reports, just a high quality video of it falling. [Supports from stage fall on crowd.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkdwrmzYXg&feature=player_embedded) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647/20 "2011-08-14T17:36:35Z")
What is with all the stage collapses lately? There have been two or three that I’ve heard of lately, and now this one. I’m not going to any outdoor shows - we’ll be killed! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stage-collapses-at-indiana-state-fair/592647.md?page=2)