threat of a bridge collapse
TRANSCRIPT
Foundations of Emergency Management Cameron Crowson
5-25-2015
The Threat of a Major Bridge Collapse In Tampa, Florida
Figure 1: Disaster Photos of the Skyway Bridge Collapse in Tampa, FL
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Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Community Planning and Preparedness ....................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Business Letter ............................................................................................................................................ 12
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Introduction
Research from the disaster on May 9, 1980, indicated that a major bridge collapse in
Tampa, Florida regarding the Skyway Bridge would have major consequences. The Sunshine
Skyway collapsed earlier in the morning on May 9, 1980 around 7:30am Eastern Standard time
and was the cause of 35 deaths, in which 26 people were traveling on a Greyhound bus and the
rest in cars of their own. Figure 2, on page 3, shows a list of individuals that were victim of the
first bridge catastrophe. The cause of the collapse was said to be anticipated from the low visibility
that morning. Therefore, on account of the weather, a ship, called the Summit Venture, hit a major
beam of the bridge causing over 1200 ft. of the platform to plummet into the depths of the Gulf of
Mexico. As you can see in Figure 1, on the cover page, the aftermath was considerably mild in
regards to other bridge disasters in the past. The bridge collapse had a major effect on the Tampa
community in 1980. As of today, the threat of a major bridge accident under natural circumstances,
is low, but terrorism is a greater and much more consequential problem.
Furthermore, the Skyway Bridge is made of ‘cable-stayed’ reinforced concrete. Although,
the bridge is “reinforced” it is harder for the bridge to collapse, but if a strong ship hit the concrete
beams, weather patterns became very extreme for the suspension to hold, or a terrorist attacked the
bridge, then the possibility could turn into an actuality. Since the latter of the threats has been a
considerable threat in the 21st century it would be feasible to think that there is a higher probability
of this happening. Moreover, a contingency plan needs to be established in way of preventing a
large-scale emergency.
In writing the following pages, the intention is to write and apply the principles and
planning considerations and outline a community planning and preparedness program that would
aid the community in a plan of emergency for a major bridge collapse.
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Figure 2: Victims of the May 9, 1980 Skyway Bridge Collapse
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Community Planning and Preparedness
In following the plan established in the textbook, Introduction to Emergency Management
(2007), by Michael K. Lindell, Carla Prater, and Ronald W. Perry, there are two phases to consider.
The first phase is to identify all the hazards, estimate the probability of the hazard, and project the
consequences. The second phase involves (1) understanding the cause of the disaster, (2) preparing
for the emergency response by identifying the agencies that should be involved and contacting
them with a disaster plan, (3) responding to the situation by protecting the populous and
minimizing damage, (4) recovering the damage by clearing debris, renewing, restoring, and
providing economic relief for the people; what implications does this have for preparing and acting
in way of a bridge collapse? And is the plan effective?
In this scenario, a bridge collapse has several different hazards: (1) a water vehicle hitting
the concrete beams, (2) the sway/resonance of the bridge becomes too much, for example the
Tacoma bridge collapse had too much resonance — chaotic reflection from the sound or surface
accruing from chaotic vibrations — caused by wind, that resulted in a collapse, and (3) a terrorist
attack on the bridge, concluding in the destruction of the support beams. The probability of each
of these scenarios greatly increases as incidents of other bridge disasters become known.
Looking at past events, there have been several cases in which bridge collapses
culminated: water vehicles crashing into the major supports, forced wind resonance and vibrations,
and terrorist attacks. Boats, ships, and barges striking major support beams in the 21st century have
become prevalent in such areas like New Hampshire, Tampa, Brooklyn, Sturgeon Bay, etc… There
have been few instances in which a bridge collapsed from wind, forced vibrations and resonance,
but the leading example is the Tacoma Bridge; which has been modeled by way of a Second-Order
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Differential Equation. Additionally, another rising issue in the world is terrorist disasters mainly
by way of fire or bombings. There have been successful attempts on such bridges like the Orontes
River Bridge and Islamic Bridge. The consequences of a major bridge collapse in Tampa Bay
could be very consequential depending on how many people are on the bridge at the time of the
incident, and the extremity of the shock. The incident that occurred in the 1980 resulted in only
35 deaths, but due to population increase, the amount of people that cross the Skyway Bridge, and
the change in vehicle structure, it could result in the deaths of over 100 people.
In response to the situation, there are several measures of disaster preparedness that would
immediately go into effect. The first would be understanding the extremity of the disaster. There
are different spectrums of disasters ranging from a few people to a great amount of people in line
of danger or deceased. In the circumstance where the bridge collapsed due to a terrorist attack, the
best measure is to have a special division team proceed forward, analyze the situation, and detain
the terrorist(s). If in this case the verdict is that this is a severe threat to the major public then a
specialized American Red Cross team will come in to investigate the threat of the situation and
calm the people. According to the American Red Cross (2015), in the case there is a terrorist attack
there are several concerns to take into account: (1) there could be a “significant” amount of
casualties and damages to buildings, (2) there is a certainty of “heavy” law enforcement at the
levels of the state and federal, (3) resources involving mental and physical health may be affected
and “strained”, (4) there is going to be “extensive media coverage”, (5) there may be closures at
educational institutions, (6) there could be evacuations, and (7) “clean-up may take several
months.” In this case, the building in question is that of a major bridge.
After the incident, the best course of action, provided by the Red Cross (2015) is to (1) stay
calm and patient, (2) follow the advice and orders of law enforcement and “local emergency
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officials”, (3) listen for further instructions from news media, (4) check for injuries; give-get first
aid, (5) check and see if other people are okay. Since the best course of action may not always be
the most favorable or even possible it may be best to wait for further instructions from law
enforcement and/or a trained team for the best plan of action.
The best plan of action would be to analyze the situation and contact either the “FBI” or
“Coast Guard”. In a case where the collapse was due to weather patterns or a water vehicle crashing
in the support beams, then the best option would be to have the coast guard come in and rescue the
people in the water. The second group on the scene should be the EMS. The EMS, the Emergency
Medical Services, should deal mainly with the injured. For the people that are deceased, there is
nothing more that can be done. To minimize the damage and protect the lives of the people it
would be best to get everyone off the bridge along with the vehicles; for the water vehicles near
the bridge it would be best for them to go around the bridge and perhaps help the people that fell
into the water. The major issue is in making sure that all of the people are safe from falling debris.
Of equal importance, the cleaning of the debris and the safeguarding of the accident site.
The best way of cleaning up the debris is to have a highly qualified organization come in, like a
disaster response team, to carefully remove hazardous items that could cause problems for water
vehicles. All throughout the entire process the disaster response team will be looking for ways to
safely remove debris without causing harm to themselves. Over the entire process the Skyway
Bridge would be gated off so that no one could cross until the bridge is cleaned, repaired, and
tested. The tests should consist of resonance, shock testing, and if so have second opinions from
engineers to reassure the safety measures required for safe passage across. In this process the
cleaning of the debris may be quick, but the repairs and replacements of the bridge platform can
take several months or even years to replace, depending on the severity of the damage.
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Conclusion
In establishing a plan for a major bridge collapse it is crucial to know and contact which
agencies need to participate in the process, which emergency response actions are possible, the
resources that are needed, and how the plan will be “maintained” (Lindell, Prater, & Perry, 2007).
In this case the agencies that need to be involved include FBI, if there involves a case of terrorism,
community emergency management teams, coast guards and/or ECSAR (Eckerd College Search
and Rescue), and a few EMS teams. In any case, the emergency procedures for these type of
incidents: wind, collision, and terrorism, causing a bridge collapse, the emergency response teams
need to immediately act when told to do so by a governing agency. It may not be safe to act right
away, but in any case the governing agency will tell the EMS teams and coast guards when they
are cleared to move in on the disaster. The next problem comes with the “secondary impacts”,
which could be that another piece of bridge falls, or perhaps a fire or explosion occurs due to a gas
leak. In addition, we also need a fire rescue team on hand in case the resultant secondary impact
creates more injuries and more tension then the bridge can withstand.
In the text, Introduction to Emergency Management (2007), the authors state that “during
the response stage, emergency managers must constantly assess damage.” Therefore, if damage
becomes too much to determine for the state emergency managers then there is a possibility that
the federal emergency management teams may have to get involved. The National Disaster
Recovery Framework (2011), by FEMA, is a booklet that explains the “concepts and principles
that promote effective Federal recovery assistant.” The booklet explains the role of the emergency
managers when dealing with severe or “scalable” issues. Along with having to assess damages,
the emergency managers, must also “coordinate the arrival of equipment and supplies…” (Lindell
et al., 2007). With that being said, the next step is to give medical attention and send out resources
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to individuals involved in the bridge collapse. It is of vital importance to set-up emergency
response as soon as the event begins. It may not always be possible for emergency response to
have access to the victims, or people that need care, but they can be on watch and resume when
they feel they are safe to do so.
As for maintaining the plan of action, the most important part is to keep information
accessible to the people and agencies fully participating in this mission to minimize causalities,
while at the same time keeping in mind the potential hazards. As stated it is important that the
people constantly “receive information”, “pay attention to available information”, and for “people
to comprehend the information” (Lindell et al., 2007); which means that the obligation of the news
and other media is to get the information out to the people. If the people are not understanding or
comprehending the information given to them it is in their best interest to ask specialized
individuals, like the police force or a community emergency management team.
As for the tasks of the agencies, the most important is that the people are out of the line of
danger or potential hazards. Therefore, risk assessments need to be assessed for understanding the
potential hazards and/or immediate dangers a bridge collapse could have on the public at any given
moment or time. In this case, the text by Lindell, Prater, and Perry, states that “the primary question
at this stage is Do I need to take protective action?” Another question that also needs to be asked
is Are the people in the line of danger? As far as the question that the authors ask it is still relevant
at this point, but it needs to be prompted for the emergency managers assessing the situation and
applied towards the emergency management teams. The most important part of the entire process
is in recovering the disaster and getting proper resources/necessities out to the individual people.
As the authors state: “Recovery begins as the disaster is ending and continues until the community
is back to normal” (Lindell et al., 2007).
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In conclusion, the resources utilized in this research are relevant towards today’s
understanding in dealing and assessing situations concerning a bridge collapse. The hazards posed
are different, but the way people handle the situation remains for the most part the same. The only
difference with the plan of actions are depending on if the cause of the collapse is due to an
explosive or terrorist threat then the FBI would need to get involved. In each case the main plan
of action is to get several groups on scene: Coast guard, EMS, Firefighting team, Police force,
Community Emergency Management team, Red Cross, and News Media. In the extreme case
FEMA may have to get involved; While the emergency medical teams work together: EMS,
Firefighters, Red Cross, and the emergency management groups need to act fast to prevent any
hazardous secondary impacts. The police force has an important job to prevent people from going
further into danger by blocking off the impacted areas.
As Lewis Killian concludes, in his book An Introduction to Methodological Problems of
Field Studies in Disasters (1956), “Some types of research related to disaster present no unusual
methodological problems… It is the analysis of significant psychological and sociological
variables as they affect human behavior…” The immediate thought is going to be, for some, to
save the people falling off the bridge, but if you cannot swim then you are going to pose a problem
for yourself while trying to save the person falling if you fall too. So what does this mean? Does
this mean that we put others first before ourselves? In any case a selfless act of saving someone is
important, but you have to make the decision on whether it may be worth your own life. As stated
in the Methods of Disaster Research (2002), edited by Robert A. Stallings, it is important to
understand the “methods of research – that, is the techniques of data acquisition and analysis – that
are presumed to prevent personal values and biases from seeping into the conduct of inquiry.” By
understanding the methods of quantitative and qualitative research and analysis we can better
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understand the betterment of research problems like the bridge collapse and perhaps fix the
problems easier the next time.
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Bibliography
Agency, F. E. (2011). National Disaster Recovery Framework. FEMA.
Cross, T. A. (2015). Terrorism Preparedness. Retrieved from American Red Cross:
http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/terrorism
FBI. Terrorism. Retrieved May 17, 2015, from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism
Killian, L. (1956). An Introduction to Methodological Problems of Field Studies in Disasters.
Washington D. C: National Acadmey of Sciences-National Research Council.
Lindell, M. K., Prater, C., & Perry, R. W. (2007). Introduction to Emergency Management. New
Jersey: Wiley.
Ringwald, E. (2011, December 31). The Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Retrieved from
interstate275Florida: http://interstate275florida.com/ssb.htm
Stallings, R. A. (2002). Methods of Disaster Research. United States of America: Internatioal
Research Committee on Disasters.
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Business Letter
6/5/2015
Cameron Crowson
Southern States Emergency Management Committee
300 South Adams Street,
Tallahassee, FL 32301
City of Tampa, FL
306 East Jackson Street
Tampa, FL 33602
To the City of Tampa Florida:
We are writing to inform you of a recent decision regarding a plan of action for the Skyway Bridge.
In order to prevent any unnecessary accidents or damages to the bridge we at the Southern States Emergency
Management Committee would like to hold a meeting at our district office, located at 300 South Adams
Street, Tallahassee, FL 32301. Attendance is highly recommended. The upkeep of the bridge as well as the
safety, in regards to future threats to the bridge. The committee will discuss mainly how to prevent
accidents, prepare for natural disasters like weather patterns and hurricane force winds, and the best ways
to properly evacuate the people on the bridge. The meeting day will be discussed when we contact your
department and the other potential agencies involved.
As far as the other stakeholders, we are writing to notify agencies like Eckerd College Search and Rescue
(4200 54th avenue S, Saint Petersburg, FL 33711), Tampa General Hospital (1 Tampa General Cir, Tampa,
FL 33606), FEMA (500 C Street S.W, Washington, D.C, 20472), Bay News 9 (700 Carillon Parkway, Suite
9, St. Petersburg, FL 33716), Tampa Fire Rescue (2100 E 11th Ave, Tampa, FL), U.S Coast Guard Auxiliary
(5108 W. Gandy Blvd, Tampa, FL), U.S Coast Guard (155 Columbia Drive, Tampa, FL), Sunstar
Paramedics (12490 Ulmerton Rd, Largo, FL 33774), American Red Cross (3310 W. Main Street, Tampa,
FL 33607), and Tampa Police Department (3818 W. Tampa Bay Blvd, Tampa, FL), to engage in the
meeting. Copies of this letter will be sent to the addresses listed above.
We hope to speak with your agency soon,
Cameron Crowson
Project Manager of SSEMC
Southern States Emergency Management Committee