| Indiana State Fair stage collapse | |
| Time: | 8:46 PM |
| Place: | Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Cause: | Inadequate capacity of lateral load resisting system and a wind gust from a severe thunderstorm |
| Reported Death(S): | 7 |
| Reported Injuries: | 58 |
The Indiana State Fair stage collapse was an incident during an August 13, 2011, outdoor concert by Sugarland as part of their Incredible Machine Tour at the Indiana State Fair in which a wind gust from an approaching severe thunderstorm hit the stage's temporary roof structure, causing it to collapse. The structure landed among a crowd of spectators, killing seven people and injuring 58 others.
The members of Sugarland were in a tour bus preparing to come on stage when the collapse occurred at 8:46 p.m. Opening act Sara Bareilles had completed her performance prior to the incident.
Throughout the day and evening of the concert, the National Weather Service issued notices and warnings predicting strong thunderstorms. Messages about the forecasts were relayed to various State Fair personnel via an automated text-messaging system.[1]
At 8:00 p.m., Cindy Hoye, Executive Director for the Indiana State Fair Commission, held a meeting to discuss what effect the weather forecast would have on the 8:45 p.m. start time for the Sugarland show. Members of the meeting were told that the storm was forecast to arrive at 9:15 p.m., 30 minutes after the concert was to begin. Hoye wanted to delay the show until the weather had passed.[2]
An official took this message to Sugarland's managers, who said they preferred to go on with the show as scheduled and only stop if weather conditions worsened. The managers only knew about the rain, not the lightning, wind, and hail that were expected. They decided to start the show just 5 minutes late (8:50 p.m.) to allow the band time to warm up.
When the band's decision got back to Hoye, she accepted, assuming the band had the final say. Since the storm was to arrive at around 9:15 p.m., there would still be time for them to perform some of the show.
At around 8:30 p.m., Hoye encountered State Police Captain Brad Weaver. Weaver was concerned that the approaching weather would pose a threat to public safety, and recommended that Hoye cancel the show. He also recommended they put together an evacuation plan for the crowd. Hoye directed her staff to make preparations for an evacuation.
At 8:39 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning indicating that hail with a diameter of and winds over were expected. This warning was not communicated to either Hoye or Weaver, who were still anticipating the storm arriving at 9:15 p.m.
At 8:40 p.m., Hoye dictated a message to an announcer, who delivered it to the audience at 8:45 p.m. The announcer stated that a storm was approaching but that the show would go on. He gave instructions on how to evacuate to the buildings nearby in case conditions got worse, but there was no directive to actually proceed with an evacuation.[3] Following the announcement, just moments before the collapse, the audience were seen evacuating to the nearest exits as the weather got worse.
After hearing an announcement that the show was going to continue, Weaver confronted Hoye and reiterated that the show should be called off. The two agreed, and began walking to the stage to make a second announcement. However, at 8:46 p.m., a wind gust hit the stage structure, causing the stage to collapse before they were able to announce the evacuation.
Tammy Vandam, 42; Glenn Goodrich, 49; Alina BigJohny, 23; and Christina Santiago, 29, all died at the scene. Stagehand Nathan Byrd, age 51; Jennifer Haskell, 22; and Meagan Toothman, 24, later died in the hospital from their injuries.
The Indiana State Fair Commission hired the engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti to lead the technical investigation into why the stage collapsed. The same firm had investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11 and also the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.[4]
In addition, the public safety and crisis management firm Witt Associates was hired to investigate the fair's preparedness and response to the incident. James Lee Witt, the company's CEO, was the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the Clinton Administration.[5]
According to the final incident report released by Thornton Tomasetti:
The concrete barriers used as anchors for the guy lines were not fixed in place; they resisted loading only by friction with the ground and through their own weight—about . Just before the collapse, wind loading caused several of the barriers to slide or pivot from their original positions, allowing the top of the truss structure to lean toward the crowd. The subsequent bending forces within the support columns were too large, and the structure collapsed under its own weight. Measurements indicated that the total weight was .[6]
Multiple components within the lateral load resisting system were found to be insufficient:
The separation and billowing of the roof tarp was found not to be a cause of the collapse, because the collapse sequence had already begun before the membrane added additional forces.
The report also pointed out a number of procedural factors that either contributed to the structural problems or prevented them from being discovered:
Several issues were found with the level of preparedness and the actions of State Fair officials and Sugarland representatives on the evening of the incident that contributed to the number of casualties:
Several lawsuits were filed after the event. In 2014, the largest lawsuit (representing multiple plaintiffs and multiple defendants) was settled for $50 million in damages. In that lawsuit, the State of Indiana settled for paying $11 million, and the other defendants (including Live Nation and Sugarland) settled for paying the balance of the $50 million award ($39 million).[7] However, defendant ESG Security, Inc. (who lost one of its own employees in the collapse)[8] denied liability and did not settle. On September 14, 2015, ESG won a summary judgement and was dismissed from the case.[9] ESG was the only defendant dismissed from the case via the summary judgment process.[10]
How are you? As you can see, to the west there are some clouds. We are all hoping for the best that the weather is going to bypass us but there is a very good chance that it won't. So just a quick heads up before the show starts: if there is a point during the show where we have to stop the show on stage, what we would like have you do is calmly move towards the exits and then head across the street to either the Champions Pavilion, the Blue Ribbon Pavilion, or the Pepsi Coliseum. And then once the storm passes and everything is safe we are going to try our best to come back and resume the show which we have every belief that that's going to happen. So please get ready because in just a couple of minutes we are going to try and get Sugarland on stage. Have a great show.