Experts study Texas A&M; bonfire disaster

The Daily Texan COLLEGE STATION, Texas (U-WIRE) -- A fourth professional company has been hired to help look into the cause of the Texas A&M; bonfire collapse, and investigators are moving forward in order to comply with the university's desired March 31 deadline. Performance Improvement International, a company that determines the root of error in areas ranging from organizational breakdowns to citywide blackouts, was hired by the Bonfire Commission last Thursday to investigate whether human behavior may have contributed to the November 18 bonfire collapse that killed 12 and injured 27. McKinsey and Co., a consulting firm providing the commission with pro-bono assistance, introduced Performance Improvement International and released updates on each investigating team's progress at a meeting on the Texas A&M; campus Tuesday. The company will collaborate with the commission's other three consultants to finalize conclusions about the cause of the accident. Chong Chiu, CEO of Performance Improvement International, said part of the company's duties include looking at the human conduct and behavior as well as the organization and management of the bonfire building process. "We are going to be 100 percent successful," Chiu said. "If any caused factors are there, we're going to find it." Craig Clapper, a partner at Performance Improvement International, said although it is too early to understand the exact cause of the bonfire incident, in previous cases it has been typical to see leadership as one of the problems. "Past experiences tell us it could be a number of things -- it's definitely more common to see shared problems rather than isolated problems," he said. Kent Lietzau, chief of staff for McKinsey and Co., said Fay Engineering, the firm investigating the historical design of the bonfire, has collected photographs from 1928 to 1999 in order to analyze the design. "They are about to wrap up a complete historical design research, and next is to determine the density of wood and input the calculation of the structure, which will be accomplished next week," Lietzau said. He added that Packer Engineering, the firm analyzing the design and composition of the 1999 bonfire, researched and operated all the equipment used in building the structure and subsequently determined that it was not a factor in the accident. Packer Engineering will also hire an expert to evaluate the soil in the next few weeks. Aside from organizing data and reports, Kroll Associates, one of the commission's investigating teams in charge of the general investigation and data management, has expressed interest in interviewing students involved in the bonfire tradition. In addition to providing office space for the teams, Kroll Associates established an information hotline to encourage people to submit confidential information for the investigations. "We don't want to leave any opportunity unexplored to get additional information," said Leo Linbeck, chair for the Bonfire Commission. Budgets for the consultants, which were scheduled to be released Tuesday, should be complete in three weeks. Since the investigators will not be giving reports until a final conclusion about the bonfire is drawn, the commission has decided to cancel the February 1 meeting and retain updates.