HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — For the primary time since its creation in February, the City of Houston-Harris County Special Events Task Force got here collectively publicly with their plans for large-scale occasions at NRG Park.
The workforce, created in response to the deadly Astroworld Festival, was tasked with the aim of intense collaboration to forestall tragedies like Travis Scott’s Live Nation occasion sooner or later.
On Nov. 5 2021, a crowd surge in the course of the first night time of the Astroworld Festival killed 10 individuals. A latest lawsuit additionally claims an attendee misplaced her unborn baby due to the occasion.
Questions rapidly arose about which businesses had jurisdiction over security, safety, and medical response.
“NRG is a county facility, but it’s located in the city of Houston. So, when you’re planning events, people need to know who is responsible for what,” Mayor Sylvester Turner stated throughout Monday’s press convention.
The group introduced their new interlocal settlement to streamline communications between county and metropolis entities for occasions particular to NRG Park.
“An agreement that clearly delineates responsibility between all parties to have a clear understanding of what their jobs are so nothing will fall through the cracks,” Harris Co. Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia stated.
The settlement between town and county is restricted to NRG Park solely and can cowl each occasion with a minimum of 6,000 individuals.
It requires promoters to submit a medical plan for approval by the hearth division, a safety plan for approval by legislation enforcement, and an occupancy request that the hearth division will calculate.
“We will now be involved in the planning and development of that emergency action plan which will give us situational awareness throughout that event,” Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña stated.
It additionally requires an on-site unified command put up.
“We want to make sure that the responsibility and decision-making authority is present at the command post in case something happens. We can delay, we can alter, we can cancel, even at the point where the event is ongoing,” Peña stated.
Peña estimates about 50,000 individuals attended Astroworld, which had a capability for greater than twice that quantity.
He says the tragedy was a problem of over-concentration of individuals in a sure space.
To handle that, there may be additionally a brand new requirement for crowd administration.
As town and county put together to host main occasions just like the NCAA Final Four and the World Cup in 2026, they stated they’re decided to verify the chaos, confusion and devastation of Astroworld is rarely repeated.
This Special Events Task Force was created particularly for occasion security transferring ahead.
As far as a prison investigation, the Houston Police Department stated it’s nonetheless on-going.
HPD investigators stated they’re working with the help of the FBI.
See Eyewitness News’ full protection on the lethal Astroworld Festival.
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