# 27-year-old killed as apartment building external stairway collapses in Folsom



## mark handler (Jul 4, 2015)

27-year-old killed as apartment building external stairway collapses in Folsom

http://www.startribune.com/man-killed-as-external-stairway-collapses-in-california/311612361/

JULY 3, 2015 — 7:15PM

FOLSOM, Calif. — A stairway collapse at a Northern California apartment building has killed a man.

Authorities say the external stairway collapsed around 2:30 p.m. Friday on South Lexington Drive in Folsom, about 20 miles east of Sacramento.

A 27-year-old man was injured and pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn't been released.

There's no word on what caused the collapse.

A photo tweeted by Sacramento's KCRA shows the stairway ripped from the landing, exposing raw wood.

The accident follows the June 16 collapse of a balcony at an apartment building in Berkeley that killed six people and injured seven.

City officials said water damage had rotted the balcony's wooden support beams.


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## conarb (Jul 4, 2015)

*This report shows* that the deck the stairs were anchored to rotted out, again waterproofing problems.

Maybe codes and inspections should spend more effort on safety instead of  civil rights, green, and energy?


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## mark handler (Jul 5, 2015)

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## mark handler (Jul 5, 2015)

Apartment building with staircase death had earlier collapse

The Associated PressJuly 4, 2015 Updated 16 hours ago

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/07/04/3708076/folsom-staircase-death-building.html

FOLSOM, CALIF. — A falling staircase that killed a tenant at a Northern California apartment building was due to be repaired after another set of steps collapsed a year ago, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Permit applications were filed in recent months for landing repairs at The Legends at Willow Creek, and at least one staircase was propped up with temporary wooden beams, the newspaper said (http://bit.ly/1RboSBZ ).

The 280-unit apartment complex 20 miles east of Sacramento was built in 2001.

A 27-year-old tenant was killed Friday afternoon when the outdoor steps connecting second- and third-story landings collapsed. His name hasn't been released pending notification of relatives.

Vinod Thirumurthy said he and another resident tried to move the concrete slabs that crushed the man, but he had stopped breathing.

Thirumurthy, who lives with his family on the first floor of the building, said he feels unsafe.

"I go underneath that staircase every day," Thirumurthy said. "As soon as the management speaks with us, I want to vacate as soon as possible."

Staircases in at least two other buildings were unstable, other residents told the Bee.

Eugene Asare pointed out wooden supports holding up the staircase to a second-floor landing. Workers have been repairing it for about two weeks and he can feel the steps vibrate when he climbs, Asare said.

"If it drops, this is not going to do anything," he said, pointing to a wooden beam.

Another staircase collapsed about a year ago, said Larry Kamer, a spokesman for the building owners. Nobody was hurt in that accident.

Kamer said work was underway to reinforce all the staircases in the apartment complex, and the steps that collapsed Friday had been high on the repair list.

All staircases were inspected Friday evening and those needing repair will be temporarily shored up until permanent fixes can be made, Kamer said.

He also said residents concerned about safety will be housed in hotels or guest quarters until repairs are made.

The accident follows the June 16 collapse of a balcony at an apartment building in Berkeley that killed six people and injured seven. City officials said water damage had rotted the balcony's wooden support beams.

Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com


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## conarb (Jul 5, 2015)

This appears to be glue-lams, the Berkeley collapse was LVLs, I have had deterioration in glue lams where they protruded from the structure, the ones I've had to deal with (cut off and replace the ends) appeared at about 30 years.  The last glue-lam order I placed the manufacturer questioned me about my ridge beams protruding from the building, I told him yes they were sticking out 4' but they were covered with stucco, they still wanted to use weather preservative on the last 4' of the ridge beams, my customer (an engineer) wouldn't accept chemically treated wood so I had the building re-engineered to a full steel structure. I think the manufacturers are on to this problem insisting on weather preserved wood on all manufactured wood outside of the building envelope, even it it is protected, I think the code should require it.


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## mark handler (Jul 13, 2015)

City points to construction in Folsom apartment collapse

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article27163564.html






Original construction on a Folsom apartment stairway that collapsed July 3 and killed a 26-year-old was not as secure as it could have been, city officials concluded in a report released Monday.

Chief Building Official Steve Burger said the stairway met the city’s building code. But, he said, the code only sets minimum standards and “hopefully most buildings are built above code.”

Dry rot was a main reason for the collapse, as the city previously stated, but the failure was hastened by the stairway not being properly secured to the building, according to the summary report provided by the city at the request of The Sacramento Bee.

Burger “observed that the lag bolts appear to have pulled from the decayed wood, causing the stairway failure,” the report states.

The collapse killed Shun Xiang Yuan of San Francisco when he used the three-floor stairway at the Legends at Willow Creek, a 208-unit complex on South Lexington Drive.

The building’s owner, Gerson Bakar and Associates of San Francisco, has agreed to repair the stairway using a “through-bolt attachment technique with internal caulking that would not fail in the same manner,” the report states, adding that the new stairway will include features “designed to prevent water intrusion and wood decay.”

Folsom approved the construction by FF Development of San Diego in 2000, according to city records. That company is no longer licensed to build in California.

A message left at a related business, Fairfield Residential, at the same address as the old contracting company, was not immediately returned Monday.

Burger, who sits on the legislative committee of California Building Officials, said he will ask the trade organization to study the use of wood for outdoor stairways.


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## steveray (Jul 14, 2015)

Wood supporting concrete? Don't see that in these parts...


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## mark handler (Jul 14, 2015)

steveray said:
			
		

> Wood supporting concrete? Don't see that in these parts...


Very common out here steel stringers, concrete treads and risers

http://www.stepstoneinc.com/images/details_steptread/Steel%20Details%20Complete%20Set.pdf


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## mark handler (Jul 22, 2015)

Collapses in Folsom, Berkeley invite scrutiny of building flaws

By Brad Branan bbranan@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article28066789.html

After recent fatal collapses of an apartment stairwell in Folsom and a balcony in Berkeley, officials said rotted wood failed to support the weight of the victims.

While building experts don’t know how widespread the underlying conditions are, they say problems are common enough that another building failure could happen and that lawmakers and the construction industry should work together to find solutions.

“The potential is out there for another collapse,” said Winfred DeLeon, Sacramento County’s chief building official. “Dry rot is somewhat common in our region.”

Some structural engineers say the deaths highlight the need to use stronger building materials, while others say they show the need for better weatherproofing and maintenance. The Berkeley City Council last week approved regulations on the construction and inspection of balconies and other external structures, and building trade associations are discussing whether such measures are needed statewide.

“This is not just a local issue,” said Ryan Kersting, president of the Structural Engineers Association of California, which is forming a task force with the American Institute of Architects and the California Building Officials to examine how to respond to these problems. “This is going to follow through to other jurisdictions.”

In Folsom, a July 3 stairway collapse killed a 26-year-old master’s degree student visiting a friend at a 15-year-old apartment complex. The June 16 balcony collapse in Berkeley killed six young adults, most of whom had just arrived from Ireland for the summer.

DeLeon said the design of the stairs in Folsom is common for apartments built during the Sacramento region’s building boom that ended about 10 years ago. The stairs that collapsed at the Legends at Willow Creek in Folsom were outdoors, with steel and concrete steps bolted into wood.

Wood can rot when exposed to excess moisture or water, so it needs to be covered by a protective barrier, DeLeon said. Ron Takiguchi, vice president of California Building Officials, takes a similar view.

“Dry rot, the culprit in all of this, is a matter of maintenance or improper installation,” said Takiguchi, Santa Monica’s chief building official.

Ken Venolia, a retired structural engineer in Sacramento, said builders should not use wood to support outdoor weight-bearing structures.

“Why take the risk?” he said. “These owners (in Folsom and Berkeley) and insurance companies are going to pay more than it would have cost to use steel or concrete supporting material.”

The Berkeley City Council has asked the California Building Standards Commission to update the state’s building code to require corrosive-resistant steel as a support for balconies. In a letter to the commission, the council says “there’s a possibility that the current standard allowing wood reinforcing of balcony floors will mean that failures in sealing and subsequent water damage may lead to more balcony collapses.”

The Berkeley council has updated its code to require the use of “naturally durable or preservative-treated” wood for structural supports. The council also approved a requirement that apartment balconies be inspected by the city every three years.

Andy Davidson, vice president for construction at Anton Development Company, which builds and manages apartment complexes, said requiring steel as an anchoring material is “overkill.” He said wood can support weight just fine as long as it is properly waterproofed. Apartment managers need to visually inspect units for water stains monthly and have a structural wood rot and pest inspector perform tests if stains are found near wood supports, he said. Annually, they need to check drains and other features that can cause excess water to get into the wood.

Cities do not formally inspect waterproofing as part of their permitting process, and that needs to change, said Davidson, a member of the executive board at the North State Building Industry Association.

So far, Folsom officials have proposed no new procedures following the fatal collapse at Legends at Willow Creek. Chief Building Official Steve Burger has said that unless someone files a complaint, the city’s responsibility for building safety ends when the city approves a structure for occupancy. He said he is reluctant to propose new safety measures until he has a better sense of what caused the wood rot.

Unlike Sacramento and Berkeley, Folsom lacks a program to inspect rental housing. In Sacramento, after an initial inspection finds no deficiencies or the property owner corrects problems, the owner is required to perform a self-inspection annually.

Folsom Councilwoman Kerri Howell said she doesn’t want a similar program in her city.

“It puts a burden on government that it shouldn’t necessarily have,” she said. “It should be a burden of the property owner.”

In 2001, the city of Folsom received an anonymous complaint about a stairway at Fairmont at Willow Creek, which is next to Legends at Willow Creek and built by the same contractor, Fairmark Development, according to information obtained through a California Public Records Act request. The caller said the stairway did not meet code but did not specify the exact nature of the problem or which stairwell at the complex was failing.

A Folsom building official spoke to apartment management, was told there was no problem, and the city closed the case, records show.

The stairs at Fairmont at Willow Creek are built the same way as those at Legends at Willow Creek, with metal and concrete walkways supported by wood, city officials said.

A letter posted at Fairmont at Willow Creek last week noted the death at the neighboring complex and said “we want to reassure our residents of the structural integrity of the stairwells in our community. We have been proactively repairing, reinforcing and weatherproofing our stairwells for over the past three years to prevent such an incident and to ensure the safety of our property.”

Builders must get a permit for any work involving “the removal or cutting away of any structural beam or load-bearing support,” according to a state code cited by Elaine Anderson, Folsom deputy city manager. The city has no record of the complex receiving building permits for stairway improvements, she said.

Rich Fagan of Austin, Texas-based CWS Apartment Homes, which operates Fairmont, said the company has done extensive waterproofing of the stairways at the Folsom complex and found no safety problems with them.

Fairmark Development also built apartments in Rocklin and Sacramento. The company is no longer in business, records show, but was one of several related development and property management companies operating out of the same San Diego office, including Fairmark Residential, which is still operating. Officials at Fairmark Residential have not responded to repeated messages since the fatality at Legends at Willow Creek.

Fairmark Development built Trovas Apartments on Natomas Boulevard in Sacramento, records show. The complex is managed by Greystar, a Charleston, S.C.,-based company that manages complexes around the world, including the one where six people died in Berkeley. The manager at Trovas said he could not comment, and Greystar officials in Charleston did not return messages.

The complex has outdoor stairwells bolted into wood, Sacramento city officials said. The city has not received any complaints related to stairway safety at Trovas, said Carl Simpson, code and housing enforcement manager for the city.

The stairwells at the Meridian at Stanford Ranch in Rocklin are also outdoors and bolted into wood, said Marc Mondell, the city’s economic and community development director. He said city officials recently conducted a visual inspection of the stairwells, did not find any obvious problems and encouraged the apartment management to conduct further tests.

Brad Branan: 916-321-1065, @BradB_at_SacBee


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## mark handler (Nov 10, 2015)

Folsom apartment owner sued over college student’s death

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article44185623.html

A Bay Area family has filed a lawsuit over the July death of a young man in a Folsom apartment stairway collapse, claiming the property owner ignored dangerous conditions that led to the fatality.

The lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court last week seeks unspecified damages from the owner, Gerson Bakar and Associates, the builder and others involved with the Legends at Willow Creek complex, where 26-year-old Shun Xiang Yuan of San Francisco was killed. Yuan, who was visiting friends at the complex, died when a stairwell between the first and second floors collapsed.

 Shun Xiang Yuan, 26, of San Francisco was killed when an apartment building’s stairway collapsed in Folsom.

Shun Xiang Yuan, 26, of San Francisco was killed when an apartment building’s stairway collapsed in Folsom. California Department of Motor Vehicles

In a news release, attorney Mary Alexander said the death of Yuan, a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, devastated his parents. He was their only child.

The lawsuit accuses Gerson Bakar and others of malice, fraud and oppression – defined in state law as “despicable conduct” that disregards a person’s rights – and asks for damages that “make an example of and ... punish defendant.”

The company’s attorney, Tom Burch, said he could not comment because he has not seen the lawsuit.

The lawsuit repeats information that the owner and the city of Folsom confirmed in the days after Yuan’s death: Gerson Bakar was aware of unstable stairwells at the complex the year beforehand because a stairwell in a neighboring building had collapsed. No one was injured in the previous incident.

The lawsuit accuses Gerson Bakar of failing to warn residents of the dangerous conditions of the stairwells after the 2014 collapse.

A construction company received a permit from the city to shore up the stairway that killed Yuan, but the work was never completed. A Gerson Bakar spokesman has said he did not know why the work was not completed.

The lawsuit also takes issue with the construction of the apartments, saying the 15-year-old, 208-unit complex failed to meet building codes. Folsom’s chief building official said earlier this year that the construction met the city’s building codes, but added that a better design would have prevented or delayed the dry rot that caused the stairway to collapse.

The company agreed to rebuild stairways at the complex with a “through-bolt attachment technique with internal caulking that would not fail in the same manner,” according to a city report earlier this year, adding that the new stairways would include features “designed to prevent water intrusion and wood decay.”


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