There are a number of very serious risks that demand a slower approach. As frustrating as the pace is, going faster could cause more deaths.
Yup, composed earlier but posting now.
So the heavy machinery is finally being brought in. About time
I wouldn't be so quick to cry foul:
I served with a USACOE USAR task force as a structural engineer for several years and although I did not respond to anything quite like this, I can tell you that it can take much longer than you might expect for a full USAR team to mobilize other than a small advance recon team. I recall that response time was one of the issues in the Elliot Lake Mall collapse in Ontario as well. Response times will vary from state to state and from team to team due to everything from long term state funding and local politics down to the diligence of the team itself, and so many other factors. I'll defer to others more familiar with TF3 and the other Florida TFs as to the circumstances surrounding readiness.
Also, even though a collapse like this is the worst case event that TFs train for, it is not something that many teams or engineers have ever worked and I'd think that the mobilization of teams and cranes and other logistics would take 24 hrs or more. This seem unacceptable on the surface however many teams do not have the support they need to be on continual standby and deploy within 4 hrs for an event like this.
Most of you already know but I will say that a pancake collapse like this is the worst possible scenario for survivors as there are so few voids and refuge spaces. Rescue will be slow and dangerous and will be frustrating to observers. It really makes your mind start to work in overdrive trying to conceive a system or technology to rapidly clear a debris field like this to reach survivors but the reality is that it is an unknown and unstable and unconsolidated mass which will be removed one piece at a time, and on that last point I am exaggerating less than I wish.
It's certainly possible that there are people with more experience and awareness than you and I that made a calculated decision to delay bringing in heavy machinery.
For instance they might quickly identify lower risk trapped survivors, and elect to work to save them before bringing in heavy machinery at risk of harming those same survivors that have a likelihood of being saved.
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Topic: Building Collapses in Surfside, FL (Read 118288 times)