Travis Scott performs during 2021 Astroworld Festival.Photo: Erika Goldring/WireImage
Because festival seating, which only allows for standing, is known to be “the most dangerous and deadly” crown configuration, it’s imperative that the area does not become overcrowded — and that there are specially trained crowd managers on hand, as well as medical teams.
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“We need to be able to design a plan,” he tells PEOPLE. “We need to identify the risk and then to see how we’re going to mitigate them. One of the ways you do that is reduce the density, reduce the number of people so that there’s enough for people to get out of the crowd on their own power at any time.”
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Per the NFPA, there should be one crowd manager per 250 people at the very least, say both Wertheimer and Mark Herrera, director of safety and security at the International Association of Venue Managers.
“This is nothing new in security, constantly monitoring the crowd for problems, and then addressing them immediately before they pass the threshold – the point of no return,” says Wertheimer.
In his opinion, these standards were not followed at Astroworld — and things took a turn for the worse because “nobody was minding the crowd.”
“They didn’t stop the show. Even before Scott got on, they didn’t stop the show to bring back some kind of sense of safety within the crowd,” he says. “They played right through it and stopped once the casualties started mounting. If they would’ve stopped it and got control of it earlier on, this never would’ve happened.”
When it comes to massive crowds such as the 50,000 people at Astroworld, there are certain psychological effects that can occur that make it all the more dangerous to be in the crowd.
Herrera explains that if a crowd becomes “emotionally attached” to something, their heart rates will collectively spike, and effects like cognitive impairment will take place.
“It’s called the fall,” he says. “They’re not going to think clearly. So when it comes time to making a decision to protect themselves or others, they can’t do it. They also suffer tunnel vision and auditory exclusion – they can’t hear. That’s the body’s mechanism to shut its hearing down. When you have that heart rate spike, that happens all of a sudden.”
In order to prevent something like that, Herrera says that ideally, you have to have trained people on hand to spot the behavior as it begins.
“If you start seeing that there’s potential issues, what are going to be your mitigation practices that you’re going to invoke immediately as part of your emergency planning process to control the initiation phase of potentially dangerous crowd behavior?” he says, while noting that he can only “speculate” what may have happened at Astroworld.
Travis Scott.Erika Goldring/WireImage
If you ever find yourself in a situation with a crowd surge, Wertheimer recommends moving your arms, if you’re able to, and putting them in front of your chest in order to protect your lungs.
“If you can, do not yell and scream and burn up your oxygen, because nobody can hear you anyway. Stay silent,” he advises. “Do not resist the crowd surges and crowd pressure because you’ll burn up what energy you have, and you can’t resist the extraordinary pressure. Try to absorb it, let it pass through you, just enough that you can remain standing.”
He also notes that it’s “critical” to remain standing, because if you fall, it’s likely no one will be able to pick you up, and that you come prepared with the proper footwear. Wertheimer recommends wearing a sturdy shoe, such as Doc Martens or similar boots, so that it won’t be an issue if people step on your feet.
“You’ll want shoes that prevent you from slipping, because you don’t want to fall,” he says. “I also always wore long pants – I wore a shirt and hoodie regardless of the heat so in the crowd crush, people could hang on to me.”
Herrera, meanwhile, stresses the importance of devising a plan before you enter a crowd, and making sure you know where your evacuation points are ahead of time.
“It was preventable. It was a preventable man-made tragedy,” says Wertheimer. “It didn’t have to happen.”
The victims of the night’s events have been identified asJacob Jurinek, 21;John Hilgert, 14;Brianna Rodriguez, 16;Franco Patiño, 21;Axel Acosta, 21;Rudy Peña, 23; Madison Dubiski, 23; andDanish Baig, 27.
Houston Police Cihef Troy Finner has said aninvestigation is ongoing.
source: people.com
