M's Games In Dome Canceled -- County Closes Stadium For The Week After Ceiling Tiles Fall -- Road Trip Begins Early; Team Heads To Boston

Concerned that more large tiles might fall from the Kingdome ceiling and injure baseball fans, King County and Mariners officials this morning canceled scheduled games through the weekend.

The Mariners had been slated to play a 12:30 p.m. game today against the Baltimore Orioles, plus a second game postponed last night after four insulating tiles crashed into the stands before fans had been admitted.

The schedule included four games against the Boston Red Sox, tomorrow through Sunday. The Boston series will be played in Fenway Park this weekend, said Manager Lou Piniella.

The postponed Orioles games likely would be played in Baltimore, in a doubleheader on Aug. 1 or 15, Piniella said.

The Mariners were scheduled to begin a six-game road trip Monday.

County engineers worked through the night and into this morning to shore up the dome's ceiling. Frank Abe, spokesman for County Executive Gary Locke, said the engineers "couldn't give us the complete assurance that we want that more tiles won't fall."

Abe said county officials didn't think there was a significant chance of tiles falling - noting that the news conference to announce the postponement was held on the Kingdome's playing field - but "we want to put the public safety paramount in this situation."

The decision was made in a 20-minute meeting that included Locke, County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, Mariner President Chuck Armstrong, M's General Manager Woody Woodward and other county and team officials.

News of the cancellations were a disappointment to fans already arriving for today's games.

"I drove eight hours to get here," said David Hogg of southeastern British Columbia, who traveled to Seattle with his wife and two sons to see yesterday's and today's scheduled games.

Hogg, 42, a chemical-plant worker, is a longtime Baltimore Orioles fan who arranged his Seattle trip four months ago.

Bobby Brown of Marysville showed up with his father, Perry, and three young friends. "This was supposed to be my birthday party," said Bobby, who is turning 11 in a few days. His disappointment was soothed slightly when he and his friends were able to get autographs from pitchers Rich Gossage and Bobby Ayala, arriving at the Kingdome.

The Mariners were warming up for yesterday's game about 4:30 p.m. when the first tile fell 180 feet, smashing on empty seats between third base and home plate and littering the ballfield with debris.

Luckily, the incident occurred 25 minutes before the Kingdome was opened to fans, and no one was hurt. But county and team officials decided to call off the game, the first postponement in the 18-year history of the Kingdome.

After securing the damaged area with 60 heavy-duty bolts, engineers began a visual inspection of the stadium's 80,000 ceiling tiles.

"We went through a real meticulous inspection last night and it doesn't seem like there are any more problems," said Jim Napolitano, the county's facilities manager.

Some county officials speculated the 15-pound tiles may have broken loose after becoming soaked with water leaked during repairs to the roof, which involve blasting the exterior of the dome with up to 40,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure.

But others said the roof has leaked ever since the stadium was opened in 1976 and that soaked and sagging tiles have several times appeared ready to peel off the ceiling.

"It has been leaking for years, I know that," said Jerry Lytle,

project superintendent for Pacific Components, the company responsible for the roof repair work.

"This has been the area we have been concerned about. There have been continuous leaks. . . . Renovation could well have contributed to this, but not necessarily."

Napolitano said the tiles that fell were "dry as a bone" but had likely been wet previously and dried out. "Our best guess at this point is that it had been degrading over a long period of time."

He said an inspection of the tiles showed they had deteriorated in the area around the metal clips that hold the tiles in place.

The current heat wave may also have been a factor, he said. Heat causes concrete to expand, which could have loosened the clips.

Napolitano said engineers had tested the ceiling tiles before the county began resurfacing the roof.

"I'm not happy," Napolitano said. "We tested these things. We were assured there wasn't going to be a problem. It is a problem."

A representative of the Minneapolis-based company that manufactured the tiles was to fly to Seattle today to consult with county officials. Abe said the county had also hired a "forensic engineer" to determine why the tiles fell.

The interlocking tiles are 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 1 1/4 inches thick.

The tiles tumbled from an area that has been a problem in the past, Napolitano said. "We knew we had troubles with that particular bay. . . . If you look up there, you'll see all kinds of nuts and bolts and water stains."

In a cumbersome process through the night, workers installed dozens of rods to shore up surrounding tiles. To install each rod, a small hole is drilled through the roof. Then a line is lowered through the hole to the Kingdome floor, where a threaded rod with a nut and washer are attached. The rod is then pulled up into position, and the hole in the roof is sealed.

Napolitano, like other county officials, has long complained that the Kingdome suffers from cheap and incomplete construction.

In 1989, the county sued the Kingdome design consultant, contractor, subcontractors and suppliers responsible for spraying a polyurethane foam coating on the roof that was supposed to prevent more leaks but didn't. The county received a $600,000 settlement in 1991.

The Kingdome roof is divided into 40 bays, or pie-shaped slices, each 11,500 square feet. The ceiling tiles are made of pressed wood fibers and look a little like thick slices of shredded wheat.

Only a few months ago, work crews had to repair 12 heavily soaked and sagging panels in Bay 6, where the tiles fell last night.

Napolitano suggested there might be cracks in the roof over the area and that water has been seeping through the stadium's plastic liner for years.

Believed to be the largest self-supporting concrete roof in the world, the Kingdome's umbrella-shaped cover spans about 7 acres. It has been under repair since last September, when workers began scraping and water-blasting its badly discolored exterior plastic lining and the foam coating. A new waterproof surface is being applied to the 5 1/2-inch concrete shell.

The Mariners were on the field yesterday when the ceiling fell.

"It hit hard. There was dust all over. It just disintegrated," said Gossage.

"It sounded like someone threw a baseball into the stands real hard," said Mariner broadcaster Ron Fairly, who was standing about 30 feet away when the tiles hit. "You had to stop and look around."

Two Seattle high-school students were also on the field, ready to shag balls in the outfield, when they were stunned by the sight of tumbling tiles.

"I was just turning around and watched it peel off," Kevin Ferguson, 16, said. "It just started sailing, flipping and twirling. It was huge. It took up the length of four seats."

His friend, Phil Buck, 16, said the panel floated down "like a coin under water." When it landed, he added, "you could hear it all over the stadium, like thunder."

Douglas Haner, a county facilities project manager, said roof repair crews will have to stop the high-pressure wash until engineers determine exactly what happened. "Until we're confident that no more tiles will come down," he said.

Metropolitan King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer said the problem reinforced a need for the county to review the Kingdome's condition thoroughly.

"The Kingdome is the crown jewel of King County," he said last night. "Right now, that jewel is looking pretty tarnished."

An estimated $300,000 to $350,000 in revenue - including tickets, concessions, souvenirs and parking - was lost yesterday because of the game postponement, said Kingdome spokeswoman Carol Keaton.

Between 15,000 and 17,000 people were expected at last night's game. A similar-sized crowd was expected today, and estimates were 17,000 for tomorrow, 22,000 Friday, 32,000 Saturday and 20,000 Sunday.

Depending on how long repairs take, other Kingdome tenants also could be affected. The Seattle Seahawks play their first exhibition game of the year Aug. 13 against Tampa Bay.

Mickey Loomis, Seahawks executive vice president, said today the team is contacting the University of Washington to see if Husky Stadium would be available, if necessary, for the Tampa Bay game and an Aug. 20 exhibition game against Minnesota.

"But we don't have any information that tells us we're not going to be able to play in the Kingdome at this point," Loomis said.

The Seahawks have been making their own study of possible Kingdome improvements to make the facility better for football fans. Regarding the falling tile, Loomis said, "We have concerns about the Kingdome, and this obviously becomes another concern."

Mariner officials said fans who held tickets for the postponed games can trade them in for future games.

Though disappointment grew today, there was little fuss among fans who showed up for yesterday's game.

In fact, some saw an advantage in the event: another reason to build a retractable-roof stadium.

The Mariners have said they want a new stadium by the time their lease with the Kingdome expires after the 1996 season. The county is looking at four potential sites for a new stadium, and at costs for both an open stadium and a retractable-roof model. They also are looking at about a $120 million renovation of the Kingdome.

"They should tear the roof off this thing," fan Ron Sciple of Honolulu said yesterday.

"This is a travesty," said Dave Theobald of Seattle. "It's why we should have an outdoor stadium."

Another fan had a less expensive idea: "I think we should just let them (ceiling tiles) all fall down," said Donna Thorkildson of Seattle, "and then we'll have the open-air coliseum that we want."

Seattle Times reporters Marla Williams, Dave Birkland, Bob Sherwin, Himanee Gupta, Anthony Lin, Dee Norton and Jack Broom contributed to this report. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- The long history of building the Kingdome:

1957: Efforts begin to build support for a stadium. 1960: A bond issue to build the stadium fails at the polls. 1966: A construction bond issue again fails. 1968: Construction bond issue passes in February. 1972: Construction finally begins. 1974: Donald M. Drake Co. halts construction, sues over roof plans. 1975: Cracks in roof ribs between bay segments discovered in October. County warned of possible water-seepage problems. 1976: Grand opening March 27. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Kingdome's falling tiles

There are 40 bays, or channels in the roof, each 11,500 square feet. The underside (ceiling is covered by a layer of insulation panels - several of which fell yesterday evening, forcing the cancellation of scheduled Mariner game.

Panels fell 180 feet to he upper and lower seating decks above the third bae side of the field. No one was injured.

Two of the four-foot panels fell in the lower 100 level seats, while two more fell onto 300 level.

Officials say it's likely that repair works and ahistory ofl eaking problems caused the tiles to fall. Repairs in the Kingdome roofmay have soaked the tiles before, causing them to sag and break loose. Repair work involves blasting the extriror of thedome with up to 40,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure. Also, the roof has leaked ever since the stadium was built in 1976. Wet and sagging tiles ahve several times appeared ready to peel off the ceiling. The tiles fell from Bay 6, which has had a history of problems.

Cross section detail fo rof construction

Tiles interlock using a tongue-and-grove system (like wood floorboards).

Metal clips embedded in concrete ceiling suspend interlocking tiles.

About 80,000 tiles are attacked to the concrete roo by metal clips and construction adhesive. The ti8les are made of shredded wood fober andweighroughly 15 pounds.

Reporting by Ed Walker; Graphics by Bo Hok Cline; Chuck Eichten / Seattle Times