SAN ANTONIO — A refurbished section of bleachers at the Kendall County Fair Grounds should have been inspected in the days leading up to a chaotic collapse at the county fair last weekend, Boerne officials said. But it wasn't.
The affected area will be torn down at some point, officials added.
Authorities said eight people ranging in age from 7 to 79 years old were hospitalized after the bleachers crumpled in on themselves Saturday night during a highly attended rodeo event, sparking a rush to help those trying to escape and placing further competition at the arena on hold for the foreseeable future.
As of Thursday evening, the 79-year-old woman is the only one still at the hospital.
“While we are thankful that most of the injuries were non-life-threatening, this tragic event has affected our entire community," Boerne Fire Chief Manny Casarez said in the city's press release.
According to the City of Boerne, since the seating area constituted part of "an old structure that was salvaged" to feature new elements like a bar and VIP sections, fair organizers should have applied for a building permit that would have triggered an inspection.
Instead, the city's press release said, "the only permit applied for in relation to the event was a carnivals and fairs permit" submitted in early August. As a result, the fire marshal's review was limited to things like carnival ride, food trucks, fire extinguishers and exit areas.
That particular permit didn't trigger a review of the newly constructed bleachers area, welding work on which "was still occurring up to the day before the event," the city said. And the city's investigation found no building permits had been issued for the address since at least January 2023.
A 'nerve-racking' turn of events
It was 9:16 p.m. Saturday, the city said, when the bleachers area gave in. A group of fair-goers rushed to help hold up the mass of crumpled metal as those sitting in the area climbed down. One of those good Samaritans was Kyle Szuck, a veteran who was attending with his fiancé, April Cleghorn.
"It was very nerve-racking, very scary," Cleghorn said in the aftermath of the incident. "We have a lot of friends out here, my kids have a lot of friends out here. So the first thing I thought was this could be somebody we know."
First responders arrived soon after to tend to the injured and close off the area before an investigation could begin the next day.
A safety fence has now been installed around the collapsed seating area, and a structural engineer is expected to "evaluate and provide a report regarding the failed bleacher structure" to determine why it fell apart. That inspection is expected to be done in the next week.
In the meantime, the Kendall County Fair Association will have to prove the arena is code-compliant before the venue can be used again. The city says the association will also have to submit a demolition permit for the collapsed section and pay a fee for its "failure to apply for the required building permits" that would have triggered an inspection.
"We will apply the lessons learned from this event to improve our emergency management protocols, ensuring that we maintain the highest standards of safety for all community gatherings," the city's findings said.
Those hospitalized in incident included males who are 7, 37 and 65 years old, and females who are 12, 27, 38, 75 and 79 years old. Others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
