Summer Storm Collapses Circus Tent Killing Two

Lancaster, New Hampshire 2015-08-03, 5:46PM - A summer storm struck a circus tent about 15 minutes into the performance.  Witnesses say that the tent lifted-up allowing the metal support poles to fall over onto the audience.  The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning just 20 minutes before the tent collapse.  The show was on-going when the storm hit the site bringing one inch hail, 60 mile per hour winds, and lightning.

The circus company, Walker International Events of Sarasota, Florida, made no effort to notify anyone of the pending conditions, stop the show, or evacuate the tent.  About 100 people were in the tent when it collapsed.

Visiting from Concord, Vermont, 41 year old Robert Young and his 6 year old daughter Annabell were killed when a tent support pole landed on them.  Another 32 people have also been treated for injuries.

State Fire Marshal Bill Degnan said "The circus did not have a place of assembly permit, and that's one of the things that we're looking into."  Degnan also said that it's unknown why the show continued during a severe thunderstorm warning.  He added that it was the responsibility of the circus organizer to monitor weather conditions.

Lancaster is a small town in the northern part of the state near the White Mountains National Forest.

This is Our Summer of Discontent - Storm at Pukkelpop Festival Kills 5, Injures Over 140

2011-08-18 - Mother Nature racked-up another one today in Hasselt, Belgium.  A sever storm with high winds, hail up to 1/2" diameter, and LOTS of water made a shambles of the festival grounds and surrounding area.  There are trees uprooted and broken like toothpicks (and these are BIG trees, too), and reports of at least four stages and many tents destroyed.  Early pictures and videos show shredded tents, bent metal, and a crowd management nightmare.  More pictures here.
There were an estimated 60,000 people attending the shows, so there were few places to get in out of the down-poor and wind.  Many of those places were of questionable structural integrity being tents and portable buildings.  This was the first day of a three-day festival, and the venue was turned into mud and flooded areas in less than ten minutes.  Promoters attempted to bring-in mobile cranes to lift some of the damaged structures, but they had to postpone doing so because the heavy cranes were sinking into the soft ground.

One of those who watched a tent collapse was Laura Elegeert, 17, of Saint-Nicolas, Belgium.  She said "It was utter confusion, mass panic. People were trying to get out of this tent that collapsed by using their pocket knives and cutting holes in the fabric."

At a news conference Friday, Hasselt officials and festival organizers described weather conditions at the event's opening day as exceptional and said weather forecasters had not predicted a storm of that intensity.
The Belgian weather service refused to give the exact speed of the wind, saying only that the storm was "violent."

Images of the stage wings toppled-over show huge flat sail-like surfaces and no apparent counter-ballasts to secure the framework.
Skin, the lead singer of Skunk Anansie, which was performing on the main stage when the storm hit, described the chaos on the band's Facebook page. He said "a burning hot sunny day turned into a mini-hurricane."
"(A) tower fell onto our truck, we had to run for our lives mid-set as hail hit the stage and the wind began to tear it to pieces," he wrote. "This was the scariest moment I have ever seen or felt in my 20 years of being an artist."
ABC News coverage:  http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=14334480
Arial photos of the festival grounds the following day.  This really shows the scale of the event and the broad swath of downed trees, tents, and staging. http://album.hbvl.be/foto-album/p/3/ravage-na-drama-op-pukkelpop-luchtbeelden.aspx
This festival, and others in the region have incurred deaths in the past.  In 2000, nine people were crushed to death and 43 injured during a Pearl Jam concert, and last year 20 were killed and 342 injured during the Love Parade Festival in Duisberg, Germany.
Summer's not over yet, so let's all be careful out there!  Do you have a clear plan for a weather event?  Where to go?  Who to meet? Who to Call? When to 'call' the show?

Wind Gust Uplifts Festival Tent - Six Injured, 1 Broken Leg

What do they tell you?  "Break a leg!"  Not really a good plan for most of us.  The summer music festival season is in full swing and the weather in Tornado Alley can bring-in fairly large storms on short notice.  Tuesday, July 6th had crews setting-up for a Yes and Peter Frampton concert at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma (about 20 miles west of Oklahoma City) when the skys opened-up and poured down rain with a strong downdraft.

Witnesses say the wind came in under the sides of the tent and pressurized it to lift it up and tear-out the anchor lines.  The wind toppled the sound towers and the overstage truss system as well.

Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman newspaper

Fortunately, the incident occured before there were any audience members present.  The show was cancelled and will be reschedule.

TV Interview with injured crew member:
http://feeds.newsok.tv/services/player/bcpid66319854001?bctid=110205425001

NewsOK web site article: http://www.newsok.com/local-production-crew-talk-about-tent-collapse-at-lucky-star-on-tuesday/article/3474327

Arial footage showing tent site and mangled stage gear:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7QMRTpv6V8

A walking tour of the stage and mix tower after the event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjRq0jYM6Ok

This video reveals alot about the original set-up.  It shows that the truss bases were not anchored and did not have any ballast weights.  The rig was set-up as if it was an indoor show with no regard to the wind that could blow through and topple the gear if the tent was breached.

Anchor your Rigs!  Watch the weather!  Don't wait for it to hit before you react!

Shades so dark, you don't even know my name

Veratti V6 from EnconSafety.com

Eyeballs.  You get one set for life.  No spares.  No back-up.  No mistakes.  Treat them like you can't live without 'em (well you can, but it sure isn't easy).

Thinkaboutit:  Flying nails, staples, loose ends on wire rope, crud spewing from saws, drills, planners, weed whackers . . . and that's the stuf you can predict.  What about that joker foolin' around with the stick?  Or worse.  get some safety glasses and wear them  Sittin' on top of your head may keep your date book full, but what good is that if you can't see if they are cute or dog food?

Look for products that meet or exceed ANSI Z87 and CSA Z94 standards.

Weather Safety for Outdoor Venues

Here's a handy little device that just might save your bacon (or maybe keep it from becoming bacon).  ThunderBolt International (www.tbi-usa.com) has a portable lightning strike monitor that will detect storms up to 75 miles away and provide you with an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).  This last summer saw way too many outdoor shows that were devastated by storms that resulted in serious injuries and deaths.

This information in combination with a live weather map from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - www.noaa.gov) or other reliable weather reporting source can provide you with advance warning of incoming weather fronts.  You can also get portable weather stations that can accurately monitor local wind speeds and barometric pressure drops - just enter "weather station" into your internet search engine and you will find plenty of information.

Don't wait until the last minute to clear the stage and audience.  Plan now for a safe summer tour season.

Eye Protection is more than just Safety Glasses

Eye protection is one of those things that many people forget about until its too late. DON'T BE THAT GUY (or Gal). When doing lighting work it is easy to tell yourself that bright lights can't be that harmful - actors stand under them for entire shows! The big difference between an actor and a technician is that you are "up close and personal" with the lighting instruments. Light intensity changes with the square of the distance. So if you are 6" from the face of a leko when the lamp comes on, the light is 1,600 times more intense than it is at 40 feet away. That can be hard on your retina and can cause some serious damage.

Really bright blue lights, like that which you can get from HMI / arc lamps and LED's, can cause serious damage as many times the spectrum of that light extends into the invisible but still dangerous UltraViolet (UV) part of the spectrum.

For those of you that are working around strobe lights, High intensity UV lamps, and Lasers, the danger is even higher. Wearing safety glasses that limit the spectrum of light that is imposed upon your eyes can be a really good idea.

If you are using Fiber-optics for data transmission, the laser light that is emitted from the end of a glass fiber can burn skin, blind you, and ignite any volatile chemicals like cleaning alcohol that may be present. Don't get curious with fiber data transmission systems and go looking into the jacks or the cable ends! There is nothing there to see anyway. Move along.

Physical protection for eyes is good for other tasks as well:

• Painting - Paint spatter can get in your eyes from rollers as well as bristle type brushes. Yet another good reason to use non-toxic stage paint! If you are using spray tools (air brush, canned spray paint, Wagner PowerPainter, etc.) you must be very mindful of what or who is behind you work surface. You don't want to spray someone that walks out from behind your scenery flat unexpectedly.
• Stapling - Have you ever seen a stapler or nail gun miss the intended target? Even the best craftsmen miss occasionally, and when they do a staple can ricochet in very unpredictable manner. Wearing safety glasses is not just for the staple gun operator - its for anyone within ricochet range!
• Sawing - be it a saber-saw, radial-arm saw, or table saw, they all spew chunks of wood out and around the guards. If the big chunks don't take-out your eye, then the fine dust can irritate and scratch your eye, too. Additionally, if you are cutting wood treated with fire retardant, anti-rotting, or anti-insect chemicals, you don't want the chemicals getting into your tear ducts or other mucus membranes.
• Nailing - "He hammers like lightning! - He never hits the same spot twice." Nails are just like staples on steroids. More mass. Stiffer. Harder. And because they are hit with more force (well, some of us do, anyway), they can fly farther and do more damage to unsuspecting passersby. This is one of the best reasons that EVERYONE in the shop should be wearing safety glasses with proper side shields. It's that unexpected missile coming in from the side that can really ruin your day.
• Hanging Lights - In addition to the blast of light you might get at short range from a stage light, there are other concerns as well. Loose cable ends, safety wires on shackles, wire rope safety cables, and gel frame corners, and odd protruding bolts can all arrive in our face without warning. Additionally, when you are changing lamps they can sometimes break, or even explode, right in your hand. Video projector and follow spotlight lamps are also sensitive to mechanical and thermal shock and can explode unexpectedly.
• Stage Armor - Sticks, Swords, Fencing Foils, Arrows, Knives, Spears, Flag Poles, Pipes, Tent Poles, Bayonets, and other long slender objects can all be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cap the pointed ends of these objects when they are not immediately in the production. Train the actors and the crew to watch-out for this type of hazard, as they can easily end-up in someone's eye when moving about offstage in the near darkness.

Be Safe. Go 'see' a show!