Berkeley, CA – Mayor: Deadly Balcony Collapse Tied To Rotted Wooden Beams

Berkeley, CA – The balcony collapse that killed six college students appears to have been caused by rotted wooden beams, Berkeley’s mayor said Wednesday as the victims’ heartbroken loved ones began arriving in the U.S. from Ireland.

Mayor Tom Bates said investigators believe the wood was not caulked and sealed properly at the time of construction and was damaged by moisture as a result. He said that appears to be the prime cause of Tuesday’s tragedy.

The crowded fifth-floor balcony broke off an apartment building during a 21st-birthday party held by visiting Irish college students, spilling 13 people 50 feet onto the pavement below. In addition to the six killed, seven were seriously hurt.

“More than likely, it was caused by rain and water damage that was caused to the support beams,” Bates said.

Berkeley building inspectors also determined another balcony at the Library Gardens apartment building was “structurally unsafe and presented a collapse hazard,” and it ordered it demolished. Two other balconies were red-tagged, or declared off-limits, at the apartment complex, which was completed in 2007.

Across the Atlantic, flags flew at half-staff around Ireland and the country’s parliament suspended normal business as the nation mourned the dead: Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park, California, and Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh, all 21-year-olds from Ireland.

“They were in the prime of their lives,” said Bernadette Prendiville, principal of the high school from which Burke and Walsh graduated. “They had a successful time in school, went about their work quietly and had everything going for them, everything ahead of them.”

A Mass was planned for Wednesday evening in Oakland for the victims, and grieving family members made their way toward Berkeley from Ireland.

The Irish students were in the country on what are known as J-1 visas, which enable young people to work and travel in the U.S. over the summer.

“For many of my countrymen, this is a favorite experience, and to have this happen at the start of the season has left us frozen in shock,” said Philip Grant, Ireland’s San Francisco-based consul general.

The Rev. Aidan McAleenan, a Roman Catholic priest who was sitting Wednesday with two of the injured at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, said that they were doing fine but that friends of the dead and injured were in shock and having a hard time talking.

Darrick Hom, president of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, visited the site of the collapse and said he noticed the broken wooden beams under the balcony were crumbling in the hands of investigating engineers.

“That wood was decayed or had some serious deterioration to the point where they could touch it with their hands and it was coming off in chunks in their hands,” Hom said. He said it was surprising to see such deterioration in a building just 8 years old.

Normally, any building material — wood, steel or concrete — that will be exposed to the elements requires weatherproofing at the time of construction, Hom said.

Nothing in state code requires follow-up inspections of balconies after a building is issued a certificate of occupancy, unless there is major remodeling, said Brian Ferguson, deputy director of the state Department of General Services.

Although Florida has some balcony inspection requirements, most places don’t require any reviews after construction is complete. Lawrence Ubell, president of New York-based Accurate Building Inspectors, said that could spell trouble.

“Annual inspections are so important for all balconies and terraces, but particularly for ones made of wood,” he said. “In fact, rotting wood is the biggest cause of balcony and terrace failures.”