The investigation into the causes of the partial collapse of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla., nearly a year ago will soon move into its next phase: invasive testing of samples taken from the debris pile.
Investigators with the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology have collected more than 600 pieces of physical evidence as they piece together what led to the June 24, 2021 collapse that killed 98 people, but they have so far been focused on using visible clues to determine where in the building those pieces had been located. Soon the team will begin drilling cores from concrete and cutting samples from reinforcing steel bars to test their mechanical properties and material characteristics, according to Christopher Segura, NIST investigation project leader for evidence preservation, who spoke during a presentation at the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee meeting June 9.