A Guard-All building has many features: quick installation, limitless scalability, and mobility to name a few; but one feature that’s not included is it being a rescue cushion. On May 19, a miracle happened when an SUV lost control, flipped over the guardrail, fell down an embankment and landed upside down on one of our recently installed fabric building for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT).
The three occupants were successfully rescued from the vehicle whose front and back ends were saddled between two purlins on our steel trusses and no severe or fatal injuries occurred. Not only were these unusual circumstances, but it was also an extremely fortunate coincidence that our building was there to help break their fall.
Several factors had to be in place for this phenomenon to occur. For one, the fact that there was anything there other than concrete after a 28-foot plunge is very fortunate, and just a few months ago it wouldn’t have been there.
Even if something else was there like the line of tanks that were just a few feet to the left of the building or if the building had been made of metal instead of a flexible tensile membrane it’s likely that this would have been a more tragic story.
“Guard-All buildings are built to last, they will stand the test of time. This incident shows that we’re engineering properly and our tensioned fabric buildings are good quality and it’s not your grandma’s tent,” said Ryan Widger, Guard-All’s Director of Project Management.
The rescue was caught on camera and can be seen on YouTube where many viewers commented on how lucky they were to have landed where they did.
Others were amazed at the bizarre nature of the rescue.
The extracted commuters aren’t the only ones that came out with a favorable outcome. The owner of the building’s insurance will cover the cost of them getting a brand new building. This is a proactive measure in case any of the building’s structural integrity was compromised with the impact of the crash.
This is a testament of the level of skill, engineering and attention to detail that goes into a Guard-All building; although we can’t recommend them being used as full-time car catchers. So, for now, they will be sticking to being dependable, high-grade storage buildings and operational facilities.
