Posted on Thu, Feb. 17, 2005
Environmental inspector is killed in a fall at Byberry
An officer of an environmental services company inspecting a property for demolition yesterday on the grounds of the old Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry) in the Far Northeast fell to his death after a stairway gave way, police said.
The victim was identified as James Lowe III, 49, of Spring City. Lowe worked for LVI Environmental Services Inc., a nationwide abatement and demolition company. The company's Web site identifies Lowe as president of the company's Philadelphia branch office, based in Downingtown.
Lowe and another employee, David Pearson, 38, were surveying from floor to floor in a Byberry building in the 2600 block of Southampton Road when the accident occurred.
Lowe fell two floors, police said. Pearson called 911 on his cellular phone. Fire paramedics pronounced Lowe dead at the scene at 10:50 a.m.- Thomas J. Gibbons Jr.
that sucks. This is what is nice about dever, its all concrete :) so all you really gotta worry about is the whole thing collapsing. That or having your flashlight die with no back up batteries and no cell phone to use for light while walking between the cafeteria tunnels and the buildings near teh water tower. You get stuck in there with no lights you's fucked til morning. Even then you gotta hope to find your way outta the areas with no windows
this was concrete also...........it wasnt one of the old c-buildings. strange huh?
prolly water damage, it gets inside and you dont even know it. its to bad for that guy but once again it points out all the dangers in our hobby. i had a piece of stairs once go out on me in an old tower luckily i was only about 7 feet in the air and only busted my ass.
Yes it could have been any one of us at any time..one reason why i never explore alone....
An unfortunate event like this makes me seriously rethink exploring on my own the majority of the time. I mean, I carry a cell phone with me in case anything happens, but it would come in none too handy if something like this were to ever happen.
I'm not sure why so many are worried about exploring on their own because of this one incident, this guy had somebody else with him and he still died. I'm not saying this hobby isn't dangerous and to ignore the dangers, but we should all be aware enough of the dangers so that one isolated incident like this doesn't spook us. We should already know stuff like this can happen and will. You just have to be careful, keep your wit about you, and hope nothing goes wrong. It's either that or just stop altogether.
It seems to me you should always be the most careful around stairs (wood and metal especially), wooden floors, and miscellaneous areas such as crawlspaces and catwalks. I avoid many of those altogether.
Any abandoned place whether it be an old hospital or an abandoned house, anyone should be careful.