Stability of the tower

[StickUpKid]

If the tower has been blown up by pipe bombs and set fire to shouldnt this thing be just crumbling?

[nikvoodoo]

There are many reasons why the Tower is still a structurally sound place to live. The major factors are the location the pipe bombs went off and the yield of the devices. If they were powerful enough and located near load bearing walls and beams, the damage done could be purely cosmetic. The fire would be the bigger problem of the two and would likely cause more damage. But apparently the most damage was contained to the first 3 or 4 floors.

[StickUpKid]

But wouldnt the fire have destoyed the supports or at least dameged it structurally quite badly?

[Eitri]

The tower its self is pretty sturdy, it is in LA so it was most likely made to Withstand earthquakes. Even after fires,explosions,zombies ETC the tower is still operating at full capacity (I.E isn't...

[Wicked Sid]

It also depends on how many I.E.D.'s (Homemade, not high grade/The composition) they threw in. Just because one of the Mallers had an Anarchists' Cookbook when they were younger, doesn't mean that they became an expert in making I.E.D.'s.

Although, it is extremely likely that due to the prisoners being from Eastern Bay there were a few experts in the creation of Improvised Explosive Devices locked up there.

Kind of makes you rethink the problems of placing some of the most dangerous people in the country in the same place, were a similar situation to this would play out, doesn't it?

[nikvoodoo]

But wouldnt the fire have destoyed the supports or at least dameged it structurally quite badly?

It's not uncommon for fires to destroy floors of a building but not make the rest of the building unsafe. without knowing the architecture of the tower, it's not really possible to determine why the fire didn't cause more damage.

One thing could be how long the fire burned. We don't know what time the fire started, but we know it was put out mostly by about 5:30-6am because the sun was rising as Angel, Burt and Riley were making their way back into the Tower.

[Wicked Sid]

I'm going to take a guess and say that the Tower was made in the mid-1950's, that would mean that it would be insulated with Asbestos which would start slowing the fire but making the surrounding air infinitely more dangerous to breathe.

[StickUpKid]

Also wouldnt there be large gaping hole in the tower from the explosions and fire? i dont know if they repaired it or not.

[nikvoodoo]

The bombs were thrown inside. Not attached to the walls. If the bombs penetrated far enough inside the tower when thrown, they wouldn't blow holes in the side of the building. There would be a lot of material the bombs would have to get through before the damage would be done to the exterior of the building.

Fire doesn't blow out walls. The fire would do damage to the inside of the Tower.

[Luna Guardian]

Fire doesn't blow out walls. The fire would do damage to the inside of the Tower.

Let's be thankful that the Tower's not attached to the gaslines (not sure if LA has those though. Helsinki old city sure does)

[j0be]

Also, in an apartment building, they are (generally) designed to be structurally sound even if there are structural problems on a given section. However, there can be other things that can happen if they had sealed off the lower floors like the other tower had. If that had occurred, there would have been much more damage that happened due to the explosions.

[Dino_Does_Zombies]

The way I see it in my head, the tower becomes safer with all the debri blocking the pathways into the tower. After re-listening to chapter 12, it appears as if the mallers brought in the fire truck for a number of reasons: 1) different attack strategy 2) pathways are blocked and so on..."Why make it better, when we can make it worse"

Then again I could be wrong. However, I do agree that the pipe bombs appear to have done superficial damage, rather than structural damage.

[Bulldog711]

First off....... A pipe bomb most likely did little to no structural damage. Why? A pipe bomb is designed to emitt a multitude of hard particles across an area rather than displace matter in a localized zone (blast a hole in the ground). The fire would have caused the most damage but as we recently found out Burt and Co have sealed up the exposed floors and placed traps in the vunerable areas. So I would imagine the tower is very stable and still a great place to hold up shop!

[nikvoodoo]

First off....... A pipe bomb most likely did little to no structural damage. Why? A pipe bomb is designed to emitt a multitude of hard particles across an area rather than displace matter in a localized zone (blast a hole in the ground). The fire would have caused the most damage but as we recently found out Burt and Co have sealed up the exposed floors and placed traps in the vunerable areas. So I would imagine the tower is very stable and still a great place to hold up shop!

Depending on the pipe bomb. Yes, most damage can be done by projectiles, but if the Mallers made their mix right, the concussive blast from a pipe bomb can be just as deadly (and potentially) harmful to the Tower's integrity. That being said, I still don't think enough damage was done to the Tower to say it's structurally unsound.

[Eviebae]

If the tower has been blown up by pipe bombs and set fire to shouldnt this thing be just crumbling?

Like the Battlestar Galactica, it won't fail until it's time for that plot point. :P

Actually, I thought about this, more about the fire though since I think fire might be able to damage the structural integrity of steel girders.

I've also been wondering about earthquakes, as in what if one happened.