Fallen stadium light tower causes safety concerns

By Jason White

Just before noon Friday a 120-foot steel light pole fell between the stadium’s bleachers and the gym.

“It’s another example of the wear-and-tear of the facility,” said Al Sigala, director of the college’s Office of College Advancement.

The 40-year-old pole, one of six surrounding the football field, clipped the roof, shattered a window and left stadium-light debris at the eastern doors to the gym.
Staff called Public Safety officers to the scene, and within 20 minutes the area was closed off with caution tape.

College officials phoned pro-bono engineers to survey the damage that afternoon, and found the pole fell due to rusty, weakened bolts at the light’s base, called the standard.
Nobody was injured as a result of the fall, said Sigala. “It’s fortunate that it came down when it did because there was nobody there. If that would’ve happened during the summer, it’s just awful to think of the possibilities.”

Over the following weekend an engineer tested the remaining five poles and found problems with another 120-foot light structure, at the east end of the field, though Sigala said concern for the second pole “isn’t as bad as for the one that went down.”
Gary Murph, the college’s chief operating officer, said the college isn’t required to test the integrity of the light standard, though the bleachers are tested for insurance purposes.

“It was the failure of the first standard that got us into thinking about the other ones,” said Murph. Conversations with the engineers prompted administrators to consider yearly testing of the structures’ bolts.

Track and field classes, as well as PE boot camp, and some community users have been temporarily displaced to the southwest soccer field until the debris can be cleared.
Murph said there are a lot of unknowns – mostly related to the cost of cleanup and replacement of the pole – the college has yet to figure out. “We haven’t got to that yet,” he said.

According to Murph, the stadium and football field will be closed indefinately.
“We’re pretty comfortable after having the engineers come and run their tests that nothing else is going to all of a sudden come down,” said Sigala. The challenge, now, is “getting rid of that huge piece of metal that is lying there.”

Murph said the pole will have to be scrapped, but before that can take place, the college will need to research their options, such as who will cut the steel pole and dispose of it, and who will build a new one to take its place.