Concrete failure blamed in fatal walkway collapse

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- An engineering review of a fatal Columbia walkway collapse near the University of Missouri has found that a concrete failure was to blame.

Twenty-three-year veteran city firefighter Bruce Britt died after he fell from the second-floor walkway at University Village apartments in late February. The lieutenant was going door to door looking for trapped residents in what was initially believed to be a roof collapse.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported a structural engineering firm working for the university attributed the collapse to weather damage and a construction flaw in which excess air remained inside the concrete slab.