Concrete column specimens from the Champlain Towers South building in the new warehouse space, which will allow investigation team members to safely conduct the next phase of material and structural testing.
Credit: NIST
On May 11, 2023, the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) finished moving a portion of evidence retrieved from the Champlain Towers South building into a second warehouse. The move provides the team members with the space needed to safely access the specimens and begin the next phase of evidence analysis, which will include extracting samples of concrete and reinforcing steel from the specimens retrieved from the Surfside, Florida, collapse site. The challenging move of more than 300 building specimens was managed by MDPD contractors and subcontractors and overseen by NIST staff.
“The first warehouse was not large enough to allow our staff members and others to safely conduct all of the analysis that needs to be done to help us understand the condition of the building materials at the time of the collapse,” said Judith Mitrani-Reiser, co-lead of the investigation. “This second, larger warehouse will allow us to create sufficient space around each specimen so that we can bring in equipment to safely manipulate, cut and core specimens to extract samples.”
NCST Insider - feat. Christopher Segura
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The move of the evidence required careful coordination and execution to ensure no specimens were damaged. The NCST team followed a strict chain of custody process with extensive documentation at each step.
“In order to preserve the chain of custody, we had team members at the original warehouse checking what was loaded onto the truck, and at the second wa ..
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