Fort platform that collapsed, sending 18 to hospital, last inspected 17 years ago By: Chris Kitching Posted: 12:04 PM CDT Thursday, Jun. 1, 2023 Last Modified: 7:44 AM CDT Friday, Jun. 2, 2023 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/06/2023 (1207 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The last confirmed inspection of the wooden footbridge at Fort Gibraltar that collapsed Wednesday — sending 17 children and a teacher to hospital — was 17 years ago.

Festival du Voyageur, which owns the fort, is responsible for preventing the site from falling into unsafe condition, the city said Thursday.

The municipal government and the festival faced questions about the safety of the footbridge one day after the troubling incident.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he would ask staff how often public buildings are inspected.

“We do have regular inspections,” Gillingham told reporters at an unrelated event. “I’m hoping to find out when the last inspection was, and just ask our staff that very question — how often are we inspecting? Is it complaint-based or is it proactive?”

Premier Heather Stefanson, who attended the same event, suggested changes could be on the way.

“I think we’ll work with the city on ensuring that there’s better safety mechanisms put in place to ensure the safety of children and all Manitobans,” she said.

Sections of the platform collapsed during a field trip involving Grade 5 students from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, a private academy in Winnipeg, at about 10 a.m. Wednesday.

A group fell from a height of four to six metres.

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Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health department is investigating the cause. The site is closed until further notice.

Festival du Voyageur is responsible for maintaining and operating the fort in St. Boniface’s Whittier Park, said city spokesman David Driedger.

The non-profit organization leases a section of the park from the city, he said.

All code-required safeguards must be in good working order under Winnipeg’s building bylaw.

Festival declined an interview request. Previously, the organization said it is co-operating with authorities.

Driedger said there is no provincial legislation or municipal bylaw that requires the city to conduct periodic inspections of the integrity of structures.

“I’m hoping to find out when the last inspection was, and just ask our staff that very question — how often are we inspecting? Is it complaint-based or is it proactive?”–Winnipeg Mayor, Scott Gillingham

Property and development committee chair Coun. Sherri Rollins has asked staff to give a verbal report on inspections at a June 27 meeting.

A search of records showed the city had not received any complaints about the site, he said.

“Generally speaking, if we receive a complaint about a hazardous condition, we will inspect a property accordingly (complaints based),” Driedger wrote in an email.

He said repairs were made to the walkway, or elevated palisade, in 2004, including replacing stringers and stair treads, and replacing rotten wailers on wall sections.

A building permit was obtained, an inspection was conducted in 2006, he said.

Repairs were done in 2013 to sections of the wall, including replacing rotten pickets and wailers of the fence with new wood.

The work was done under a development permit, which does not require an inspection.

The fort, a replica of the original, was built in 1978 by Festival du Voyageur.

Its spring and summer season of self-guided and group tours started May 15. The site also hosts weddings and corporate events.

Festival has been directed to hire a professional engineer to do an assessment to determine unsafe conditions at the site and provide documentation for repairs, said Driedger.

Repairs will require building permits and inspections.

“Until these actions have been undertaken, the property will remain closed,” Driedger wrote.

“Generally speaking, if we receive a complaint about a hazardous condition, we will inspect a property accordingly (complaints based).”–City spokesman, David Driedger

A stop-work order has been issued for the site, he said.

Inspectors from planning, property and development were at the fort Thursday.

“It’s important to note that we do not yet know the cause of the structure’s collapse, nor will we engage in speculation as to the cause,” Driedger wrote.

Wood scientist Ron Anthony, who is based in Fort Collins, Colo., said investigators will examine the stringers and beams between the collapsed sections, and compare them with those along the rest of the footbridge.

They will determine if there were problems with connections or if there were issues such as decay, said the president of Anthony and Associates.

He said the investigation will also look at load and how much weight was on the footbridge when it collapsed.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said 28 people, mostly children, were assessed for injuries.

A Shared Health spokesman said two of 18 patients who went to hospital were kept overnight.

Both were in stable condition Thursday morning, he said.

Dr. Karen Gripp, the medical director of Children’s Hospital’s emergency department, said Wednesday a boy, who needed surgery for a broken bone, would require an overnight stay.

The remaining patients were sent home Wednesday.

All of the children are 10 and 11 years old.

Counsellors and crisis workers were helping students and staff, said Lindsay Stovel, the school’s director of admissions and marketing.

Schools typically require students to obtain signed permission slips, which detail possible risks, before going on a field trip.

Jennifer Schulz, an associate dean and professor in the University of Manitoba’s faculty of law, said lawsuits from SJR parents are possible.

Festival du Voyageur and the city would be the two “logical” parties to sue, she said.

While schools and teachers owe a duty of care to students, the collapse of a walkway is beyond what a teacher is responsible for during a field trip, Schulz said.

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Liability waivers or permission slips signed by parents would not prevent litigation, she said.

Most civil cases in Manitoba, she noted, are settled before a trial.

— With files Danielle Da Silva, Maggie Macintosh and Joyanne Pursaga

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.