Floor collapses at Christian rock concert

Dozens injured as floor collapses at Christian rock concert in Abbotsford
Glenda Luymes and Erik Rolfsen , Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008
Stage scaffolding fell and knocked approximately 70 people through the floor and into the basement at a crowded Christian rock concert in an Abbotsford, B.C. church on Friday night.

Thirty-two people were injured and treated at Central Heights Church by ambulance, police and fire personnel from several Fraser Valley communities. Twenty-two of them had to be taken by ambulance to hospital, said Const. Casey Vinet of the Abbotsford Police. Three were seriously injured, although Vinet did not know their ages or conditions.

"This was a rock concert and it was attended mostly by youth," Vinet said.

About 1,000 people from around the Lower Mainland and Washington were enjoying the concert by Christian rock band Starfield when light fixtures and scaffolding above the stage crashed down at 9:17 p.m. It landed on a crowd of people dancing in front of the stage and knocked them approximately 12-15 feet through the floor to the basement below.

Alyx Peckinpaugh, 13, was distraught and crying after narrowly averting the fall.

"People were jumping and I started to jump," she said. She then saw a security guard gesturing and all of a sudden the floor gave way. "I ran to the wall and yelled for my friend. I couldn't find her, and then I saw her. I ran out to the hallway and then outside."

Groups of people, including parents of youth who attended the show, huddled outside the church crying and praying after the incident, as the injured were treated and rushed to hospitals in Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Langley.

"Most of the injured were walking wounded, but some were taken away in stretchers," said Chris Douglas, senior pastor of Central Heights Church.

Ryan Collum and Troy Grenier were at the chaotic scene trying to locate a friend who had been inside.
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This is another way PTSD can happen. Imagine being at a church and having something like this happen. There were over 1,000 people there and the normal rate of PTSD is one out of three. Do you think everyone there knows what PTSD is?