re: 14 Years Ago

quote:

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The '99 Bonfire that fell had a first and second stack that were both of almost equal size, they did this thinking it would make it stronger when in fact the opposite was true. That is why the collapse was so catastrophic and without warning, just too much weight.

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I don't recall that being listed at all in the Linbeck report. It's also not accurate. 1st stack was 18 feet and second stack was 16 feet. Those figures were in line with the averages for the preceding twenty years.

The two primary causes were excessive wedging of second stack into first and a lack of containment of outward stresses caused both by lack of cabling (as we used in previous years) and insufficient wire strength.

But the ultimate conclusion was that the design was untenable.

As for the earlier post about the location change, it had jack to do with it. The 1994 issue was caused by heavy rain. They tested the soil in 1999 and it was perfectly stable.