Hundreds of Fishermen's Festival spectators were startled when a ramped walkway connecting the pier to the boardwalk collapsed under the weight of crowds gathering in the Boothbay Harbor waterfront, April 27. The collapse is viewable in the attached timelapse video of the day's events.

Just minutes before the incident occurred, children were seen playing underneath the ramp. No one was injured when the ramp collapsed, but many spectators said they were spooked.

Moments before the accident, Lynn Blake of Boothbay said she was standing beneath the ramp with her husband and daughter. Blake said she left the area to register her daughter into the crate running competition, then walked up the ramp to the boardwalk. Two minutes later she heard a loud crack and people screaming.

“I freaked out and I started going towards the rail,” Blake said. “I'm pretty sure I pushed a few people out of the way. That kind of motherly instinct kicks in.”

Blake said she was concerned her daughter was crushed under the ramp, as her eyes welled up and she started shaking as the initial shock set in.

“Somebody grabbed me and told me no one was hurt, but I had to get to the railing to see,” Blake said. “Then I started crying because it could have been a lot worse.”

On April 28, Boothbay Public Works Foreman Jody Lewis evaluated the site with Mike Tomacelli, a local business owner who constructs aluminum runways. It was confirmed that the 15-year-old ramp had exceeded the allowable load limit and failed due to excessive overloading conditions.

“Runways are meant to be walkways. Tomacelli said. “They are not designed to be a structure that can hold unlimited weight.”

Tomacelli said aluminum ramps are built and designed to a load rating of 60 pounds per square foot and not for 80 to 100 pounds per square foot, most likely seen during the event. Additionally concentrated overloading might have also contributed to the runway damage.

After assessing the damage, Tomacelli said he thinks some of the structural members may have exceeded their allowable yield strength during the incident, and that he didn't encourage repairing the ramp.

Following discussions with Boothbay Harbor Public Works, Tomacelli said it's a possibility that the town will have a new ramp built.

In the meantime, a replacement ramp belonging to the Boothbay Harbor Fish Pier will be temporarily installed to service the public docks.

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