The massive outdoor concert stage that collapsed on at least 100 people on Saturday in Camrose, Alta., killing one and injuring dozens, is at the centre of two separate probes by the Alberta government.
However, the company that built and owns the large metal structure is confident it did nothing wrong and that only an accurate weather forecast could have prevented the tragedy.
"It's the worst wind I've ever seen," Brian Andrews, general manager of Premier Global Productions, said Tuesday.
Mr. Andrews said the company, which has staged major festivals and concerts across North America, would have needed at least 20 minutes' warning to prepare the stage – removing lighting equipment, lowering the roof and speakers – for the destructive winds that eventually blew it over just before 6 p.m. on Saturday. It received only a few minutes' notice, he said.
Thousands of people were attending the Big Valley Jamboree, an annual country music festival in Camrose, when the wind suddenly kicked up and toppled the stage.
Concert organizers said they ran onto the main stage at 5:57 p.m. to halt the event after receiving a warning from the RCMP two minutes earlier that violent winds were likely heading straight for the gathering.
But before they made the announcement, the stage buckled and fell. Lloydminster, Alta., resident Donna Moore, 35, was killed when a speaker fell on her.
A few minutes later, at 6:04 p.m., Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area.
An Environment Canada official said earlier this week that there "really isn't a lot that anybody could have done any differently in this particular case," because the powerful winds, known as "plow winds," were travelling about 20 minutes ahead of the severe thunderstorm racing toward Camrose and couldn't be monitored.
Regardless, two provincial departments, Alberta Employment and Alberta Municipal Affairs, will determine whether the two companies involved, Panhandle Productions Ltd., which produced the concert, and Premier, broke any rules. Premier, which is based in Nashville and Regina, has staged the event since 1993.
Both probes are expected to take months.
Alberta Employment spokesman Chris Chodan said the investigations may already be compromised to a certain extent, because the crumpled stage was damaged further when emergency officials took to it to rescue and treat casualties. "Which is entirely understandable – your first priority at that time is to try and save people's lives, and not saving evidence," he said.
Mr. Chodan said Panhandle's occupational health and safety measures will be reviewed, because five workers were injured. He said Panhandle has also been ordered to hire its own experts to figure out what caused the stage to crumple.
The government has up to two years from the time of the incident to lay charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. If Panhandle is convicted of breaking any rules, it could face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation.
As part of its probe, Alberta Municipal Affairs has ordered Premier to hire independent engineers to determine if the structure was built to code.