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| 1 2 3 | UER Forum > US: South > A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. (Viewed 12366 times) |
Dee Ashley
Location: DFW, Texas Gender: Female Total Likes: 1378 likes
Write something and wait expectantly.
| | | | Re: A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. < Reply # 21 on 1/12/2017 3:59 AM > | Reply with Quote
| | | The first photo is from the Dallas Morning News article on the girl's death (I can't remember which one is on this thread). The way the article I read was worded, it made me thing that she slid down something, like some sort of roof and lost her contact with whatever she was on top of - some part of the actual silo. They found her in the basement, so that makes me think she fell off something inside of the structure - especially because the responders would have found her more quickly had she fallen on the outside. Here's the link to the article and the photo below: http://www.dallasn...-worth-grain-silos This next one is a terrible shot I took (and this is the other, larger granary), but you can see that whoever left this place is obviously trying to kill anyone attempting to explore it. Hellholes at the foot of the stairs. You don't even get to use stairs to get all the way up to the top of this monster. You get to climb a rickety old ladder with anchors that have held - for now. I always get callouses on my hands after coming here, despite wearing gloves. It is a LOT of climbing. Looks like I strayed from my point again, sorry guys. Point is, these granaries are death traps. Untitled by Dee Ashley, on Flickr These last two give you an idea of how huge this last granary really is, and how many hellholes there are to fall into - and many of them are a lot bigger than these. I'm only half way up the thing, but you get a good view of its length. The silo the girl died at isn't even a third of this length or height, but it is still quite large and several stories high. For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr I threw a penny or something down one of the hellholes to see how long it would take to hear it (it's SOOO far down these holes) hit something, but I never heard anything. I figured there was probably water or something down there. Too bad I didn't think to toss a glow stick down there. For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr
| I wandered till the stars went dim. |
| blackhawk This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Mission Control Total Likes: 3996 likes
UER newbie
| | | | Re: A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. < Reply # 30 on 1/12/2017 7:25 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by Dee Ashley
I know next to nothing about granaries to be honest. I know not to smoke in them and to watch my step, lol. Your guess is as good (probably better) than mine!
| Free dry dust is not a hazard unless present. Unless active the risk of a dust explosion is unlikely. Smoke away, just don't cause a fire. Posted by 2Xplorations be honest danger is why most of y'all do this sort of stuff not because you seek pretty colors and textures to photograph that just by coincidence are found in dangerous places adrenaline is the drug and you need to score..
| Indeed. Just don't OD... Posted by vivid I always carry a pack of smokes on me as a peace offering. Most people who you'll meet in abandos have bad habits (heh). I don't smoke, but I've had random packs left in my car after I've had a group in it and saving them was worth my parents thinking I smoked when I was 18.
| I -never- give out smokes or anything for that matter to strangers. Tie up your hands with the wrong perp and you'll learn a lesson from the school of hard knocks... if you survive. Doesn't matter how experienced you are, it only takes a momentary lapse of concentration or judgement to send you into the hurt locker at these sites. A piece of dust covered cardboard, rotten plywood,etc that's concealing a hole in the floor, or simple not seeing a unexpected hole. It happens. Never drop your guard when moving even a single step. Dee's images are good but don't fully communicate the danger. Distractions kill. You need to move slow and have good light on where you are stepping. Beyond that, concrete can fail with no warning. Heavy weathered, water/freeze damaged concrete and visible corroded rebar are warning signs of potentially structurely unstable concrete. Fasteners anchored into concrete are especially susceptible to corrosion. Whole catwalks, ladders, brackets supporting large pipes etc can fail and fall with little or no provocation. Myself and others have had this happen to them...
[last edit 1/12/2017 7:31 PM by blackhawk - edited 2 times]
| Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in. |
| Dee Ashley
Location: DFW, Texas Gender: Female Total Likes: 1378 likes
Write something and wait expectantly.
| | | | Re: A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. < Reply # 31 on 1/12/2017 7:58 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by blackhawk .... Fasteners anchored into concrete are especially susceptible to corrosion. Whole catwalks, ladders, brackets supporting large pipes etc can fail and fall with little or no provocation. Myself and others have had this happen to them...
| This. This concerns me more than the hellholes at this location because the only way to the upper floors is via emergency ladder (those caged metal ones). Also, because of the structures height, people will typically line up and you end up with several people on the ladder at once, which obviously increases the weight stress of the anchors. I haven't been too concerned about this happening, but it does cross my mind while I'm watching my hands grab each rung. They seem safe enough for now, but show signs of age and decay that will only continue as time wears on. A fall from the top would be fatal unless you hit one of the nearby floors on the way down (or pulled a Hollywood maneuver and grabbed the cage or something). Another thing that actually happened to us the last time I was here - the person at the bottom of the aforementioned line formation almost got hit with a tripod that fell while going down the ladder. It was centimeters from their head and while the tripod probably wouldn't have been a catastrophic injury, losing one's grip in the process certainly would. I'm always careful not to look up (dirt and pigeon shit in the eye is a real pain, not to mention it's bad for your eyes) when there is someone above me. When there's someone below me, I'm always careful to secure my items and look down often so I don't step on any fingers! This happened the last time I was there too.
| I wandered till the stars went dim. |
| blackhawk This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: Mission Control Total Likes: 3996 likes
UER newbie
| | | | Re: A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. < Reply # 33 on 1/12/2017 8:51 PM > | Reply with Quote
| | | Posted by Dee Ashley
This. This concerns me more than the hellholes at this location because the only way to the upper floors is via emergency ladder (those caged metal ones). Also, because of the structures height, people will typically line up and you end up with several people on the ladder at once, which obviously increases the weight stress of the anchors. I haven't been too concerned about this happening, but it does cross my mind while I'm watching my hands grab each rung. They seem safe enough for now, but show signs of age and decay that will only continue as time wears on. A fall from the top would be fatal unless you hit one of the nearby floors on the way down (or pulled a Hollywood maneuver and grabbed the cage or something). Another thing that actually happened to us the last time I was here - the person at the bottom of the aforementioned line formation almost got hit with a tripod that fell while going down the ladder. It was centimeters from their head and while the tripod probably wouldn't have been a catastrophic injury, losing one's grip in the process certainly would. I'm always careful not to look up (dirt and pigeon shit in the eye is a real pain, not to mention it's bad for your eyes) when there is someone above me. When there's someone below me, I'm always careful to secure my items and look down often so I don't step on any fingers! This happened the last time I was there too.
| This is a high hazard. The corrosion is hidden and not visible most times. When one anchor fails, others may fail as well from the load increase on them if they are corrosion compromised as well. A chain failure be very bad; this has happen to other UER members. A catwalk failed like this. Watch out for wet walls as that increases the corrosion rate. Be wary of rebar ladder rungs; climb slow and pay close attention for weakness. Always maintain 3 points of contact. Never climb a ladder when someone is on it. Same-Same on catwalks; spread out! One at a time; wait until the climber is completely clear of the ladder and gear is secured. It takes longer but it could save your life. If you have a lot of gear, use a rope and 5 gal bucket to raise/lower them separately. Never jump off a ladder when near the bottom of it. Any fall is potentially fatal or life altering. Avoid them at all costs. That ladder and concrete look structurally sound
[last edit 1/12/2017 9:06 PM by blackhawk - edited 1 times]
| Just when I thought I was out... they pulled me back in. |
| Dee Ashley
Location: DFW, Texas Gender: Female Total Likes: 1378 likes
Write something and wait expectantly.
| | | | Re: A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. < Reply # 35 on 1/20/2017 5:15 AM > | Reply with Quote
| | | * I apologize for the following long-winded, kind of lecture-like, and mostly unsolicited crash course on "the dangers of granaries," but I think it's relevant and this thread has kind of evolved. This also felt like a way to preserve that young girl's legacy and memorial by exploring (no pun intended!) the risks associated with these places and possibly even help to prevent another needless tragedy or injury simply by mentioning some of these lesser known risks - especially to explorers without a lot of experience. I may even add something along these lines to the rookie forum when I have more time. Or... maybe the above is simply my lame attempt at justifying my excessively long and photo-heavy post, lol. Y'all can be the judge of that!* Seriously, If I was going to teach a class on the dangers of grain elevators, this particular one is the perfect example of all the possible hazards these things have in store for you if you're not paying attention (or even if you are). There is a metal corridor that connects two of these three main sections, and it's only a matter of time before that walkway - mostly made of metal and steel - loses enough of its integrity to collapse. This particular walkway is of shoddier construction than most of the rest of the place, and might be the first major component to bite the dust. The corridor I'm talking about is to the photographer's right. You can actually see a tiny section of its rusty roof in the bottom right of the photo, a couple stories below. I'll see if I can dig up a photo of it from the outside. For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr Ahh. Here it is... The walkway I speak so highly of. Kinda makes your heart skip a beat hearing it creak as you walk through its questionable hallway construction! For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr This picture gives a pretty good idea of how high and huge this granary is. There is another entire section not pictured here (to the left side of the photo), and this is not the highest point (but pretty close). and the very highest point isn't worth the risk, especially when one can reasonably get within a few dozen feet of that summit without being a dumb ass - which is pretty much what you are if you try to get to the very tippity top. For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr Before the hellholes were formed - the ones like in the photo I posted earlier (at least, this is my working theory as to what the hellholes used to be): For the Love of All Things Gritty by Dee Ashley, on Flickr Untitled by Dee Ashley, on Flickr Ironically, you can see the other, smaller granary where the 17 year old girl died from the larger one. I didn't even know what it was when I took this shot, it just happened to be in the photo, so I just enlarged/cropped it a little to show what the other location looked like from a different vantage point (sorry for the shitty photo, I never intended for anyone to actually see it!): Untitled by Dee Ashley, on Flickr
| I wandered till the stars went dim. |
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UER Forum > US: South > A 17 girl y/o dies at the Fort Worth Grain Silos on Alice St. (Viewed 12366 times) | 1 2 3 | |
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