Berkeley Balcony Collapse: Dry Rot Likely Caused Death Of 6 Students

The Berkeley balcony collapse that resulted in six deaths on Tuesday is now believed to have been caused by dry rot.

Six Killed, Seven Injured In Berkeley Balcony Collapse

Six young adults were killed early Tuesday morning – five were Irish students visiting the Bay Area for the summer – while attending a 21st birthday party at an apartment just blocks away from the UC Berkeley campus. Olivia Burke, Eoghan Colligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller and Eimear Walsh, all 21, and American student Ashley Donohoe, 22, were killed in the four-story fall.

Seven others are injured – it is believed that there were 13 people crammed onto the small balcony at the time of the collapse. The balcony detached from the building and fell over, landing on its side on the balcony bellow, throwing off its occupants. Two of the seven injured are reportedly in critical condition.

The five Irish students were in the United States on short-term visas, and it’s unclear whether or not any of them were hosting the party or simply attending. The Library Gardens apartment complex where the accident took place is very close to the Berkeley campus, making it somewhat ideal for student housing, but none of the visiting Irish students were enrolled in classes at the University.

Berkeley Balcony Collapse Likely Caused By Dry Rot

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said on Wednesday that it is “more than likely” that dry rot in the wooden beams supporting the balcony caused the collapse. A second balcony from that same building will be removed and is believed to be “structurally unsafe.”

“Evidently, it was not structurally sound to hold people out on the deck. …It obviously had to do with the wood,” said Bates.

According to various reports, properly built, the balcony should have been able to hold the weight of thirteen young adults – or at most 2,100 pounds – but dry rot weakened the beams, causing them to snap. Reports suggest that rainwater could have rotted the beams if they weren’t properly handled, leading to the tragedy. Dry rot can occur in just a few years – the Library Gardens was completed in 2007.

According to reports, Segue Construction, the company that constructed the Library Gardens, has paid over $6 million in damages relating to similar “water penetration” of balconies complaints. In 2014, they reportedly paid $3 million to settle a lawsuit filed with regards to a dozen damaged balconies in a San Jose building. In 2013, Seague paid a settlement of $3.5 million after 36 balconies in one of their buildings were found to be unsafe.

“It was the exact same mechanism of failure as in Library Gardens. The waterproofing system failed. Water got into the structural wood raming for the balconies and dry-rotted out the wood,” said Thomas Miller, who represented the paintiffs in the 2013 case against Seague.

Seague denied any flaws in their construction, and the investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Bates added that he will look into the building codes and laws that oversee balconies and see what, if anything, can be done to help prevent this type of incident going forward.