Quote:
Originally Posted by jollyburger
It would be interesting to see what caused the crane to collapse. I assume since it was a wood frame that it would just have been locked in at a single point in the foundation.
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A wood kindled fire, while likely not hot enough to melt steel objects, can nevertheless still get hot enough to cause the structural members of the Crane's truss support system to buckle. And a simple buckling or deformation is all you need to create an imbalance that causes a collapse.
It all depends on how close to the base of the crane the fire's flames got and for how long the frame was exposed to the heat.
Remember that at any given time a crane - even when not in operation - is usually always supporting at a minimum, the massive counterweight slabs at the top of the rigs and anything upsetting that balance (like support members down below buckling) would be enough to bring the whole rig collapsing down.
It's a good reason why cities always have restrictions on where and how you can erect cranes - especially close to public infrastructure like highways or skytrain guideways.
I suspect heavy fines and a lawsuit or more are incoming depending on the Fire chief's report - especially if the cause of the fire was related to, or can be traced to the construction activity.
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