Last year marked two milestones for forensic structural engineer Donald O. Dusenberry. He retired from Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. after 45 years and he celebrated the completion of the draft of the nation’s first building standard on disproportionate collapse mitigation. 

Four months after the tragic collapse of a wing of the 12-story Champlain Towers South residential condominium in Surfside, Fla., the Miami-Dade police gave private forensic investigators access to the site, but for measurements only.

Under the county's equitable distribution program, the Miami-Dade Police Department is seeking a qualified local forensic engineer with high-rise experience and familiarity with concrete construction to study a recent collapse in Surfside, immediately north of Miami Beach. 

This summer, the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers expects to release, for public comment, a draft of the first U.S. consensus standard addressing disproportionate collapse of structures.

Structural engineer studying the near-twin of the Surfside, Fla., condo that collapsed says there is no indication of the potential for a collapse.

Search and rescue operations ceased on July 3 so that crews could prepare to raze, using charges, the damaged wing of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium.