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"In 1981 the sudden collapse of two skywalks in Kansas City's Hyatt hotel killed 114 people and injured another 200. There never was a public trial, nor a full airing of everything that went wrong. Richard A. Serrano shared a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the disaster at the time; now he returns to the tragedy to learn all that went wrong, how it could have been avoided, and what lasting effects persist today-for engineering and the legal system, but most importantly those who suffered. Drawing on legal depositions, evidentiary material, and recollections from 240 survivors, first responders, and construction officials, Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks is the story of this monumental catastrophe and what it teaches us today. The Friday evening Tea Dance was all the rage that summer of 1981. Each week the lobby filled with throngs of revelers, some celebrating atop the skywalks themselves. On July 17, without warning, the steel support systems buckled and the concrete and glass skywalks crashed onto the crowded lobby. The devastation reverberated far beyond the ruins. Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics suffered from deep depression, cycled through divorce, hit the bottle, and in some instances committed suicide. The hotel had been built using a new fast-track method with key construction decisions often made on the fly, including changing the skywalk design from six heavy hanger rods to twelve thinner poles. Within a year the skywalks were splintering inside. Even then the collapse could have been averted, but special inspection panels to check the hanging walkways were never opened. Though wholly avoidable, the Hyatt disaster did bring significant changes-some good and some problematic. Tougher industry guidelines were enforced for US construction projects. Police officers, firefighters, and health care workers are now treated for PTSD and other psychological trauma after working a tragic event. But the rush to settle all the Hyatt lawsuits helped usher in a controversial new era of nondisclosure agreements. Buried Truths and the Hyatt Skywalks explores America's worst structural engineering disaster. Though the world has moved on, survivors and witnesses still vividly recall that night. This is their story"--

Building failures --- Skywalks --- Structural failures --- Accident victims --- Accidents --- Kansas City Hyatt Regency.

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This book addresses the performance of a multi-storey timber building subjected to a model fire that represents a real, potentially devastating internal fire. Readers will learn about factors concerning fire hazards in buildings; the mechanisms of how fires start and spread; and the degrading impact of fire on wood and wood-based materials, especially their mechanical properties. The book also discusses the fire resistance of timber buildings and the design principles for fire safety, summarised in Eurocodes. In turn, a fire test on a full-size wooden structure demonstrates the principles discussed. The test makes up an essential part of the book, as to its individual steps: the development, planning, execution and subsequent assessment. This is complemented by detailed temperature monitoring at hundreds of individual spots and the reaction of the wood constructions, illustrated in extensive photo documentation. The temperature and fire development presented there show the fire's initial mechanism and its further behaviour in a wood construction. The test proved the feasibility of fire protection and safe design of timber buildings, offering insights that can be generally applied in research, material and construction development. Accordingly, the book will be especially useful for architects, building and fire engineers, as well as researchers dealing with the fire performance of timber buildings.

Fire prevention. --- Buildings—Design and construction. --- Building. --- Construction. --- Engineering, Architectural. --- Light construction. --- Steel construction. --- Lightweight construction. --- Structural materials. --- Fire Science, Hazard Control, Building Safety. --- Building Construction and Design. --- Light Construction, Steel Construction, Timber Construction. --- Structural Materials. --- Architectural materials --- Architecture --- Building --- Building supplies --- Buildings --- Construction materials --- Structural materials --- Materials --- Construction, Lightweight --- Light construction --- Light weight construction --- Minimum weight construction --- Architectural engineering --- Engineering, Architectural --- Iron and steel building --- Iron construction --- Steel and iron building --- Steel construction --- Girders --- Graphic statics --- Iron --- Steel --- Iron, Structural --- Steel, Structural --- Construction --- Construction science --- Structural design --- Structural engineering --- Construction industry --- Fire safety --- Fires --- Prevention of fires --- Fire protection engineering --- Public safety --- Insurance engineering --- Design and construction --- Fires and fire prevention --- Prevention --- Fire testing. --- Flammability testing --- Building, Fireproof --- Building materials --- Fire prevention --- Fireproofing --- Testing --- Research --- Building materials. --- Light-weight Construction, Steel and Timber Construction. --- Wood, fabric, and textiles. --- Protection. --- Design and construction. --- Building damage prevention --- Building protection --- Protection of buildings --- Building failures --- Damage prevention --- Fires.