Churches ramp up security, band urges caution after floor collapse at concert

Security will be ramped up at a church in Edmonton on Tuesday, the next tour stop of the band Starfield, while a pastor in Calgary says Wednesday's show will likely be prefaced by a request that concertgoers be respectful of each other and the venue.

The manager of the Winnipeg-based band said Monday that extra care was being taken to ensure future venues are safe and that concert-goers refrain from inappropriate behaviour.

"We're just asking people to respect each other, just to not get too crammed," Chris Nichol said by phone from a plane stopover in Seattle, where he was en route to Nashville.

"It's just an appeal for people to be careful."

Witnesses at Friday's show at Central Heights Church in Abbotsford, B.C., say the largely young crowd had been orderly and respectful when the wooden floor started to give way. Nichol disputed early reports of moshing or rowdy behaviour, saying only that the audience had been dancing and jumping up and down in unison.

When Starfield performed in a church in Kelowna, B.C., on Sunday, Nichol said they prefaced the show with a few words for the injured and a request that the audience be careful. He said the band would consider asking future audiences to refrain from jumping up and down if they believed safety could be a concern.

"It's such a case-by-case basis, but in a situation where there's a wood floor, if the concert even goes on, I'm sure that would be an appeal," said Nichol.

A mostly teenage crowd of about 1,000 were watching the Christian rock band on Friday when several dozen people - and some church pews - plummeted into a basement below.

The local health authority said more than 40 people were treated in hospital for injuries that included bruises and broken bones.

A 41-year-old woman was transferred to the intensive-care unit of a Vancouver hospital and remained in stable condition Monday.

Engineers and city officials were still trying to determine what caused the floor to give way, a police spokesman said.

Central Heights' youth pastor said he expected the church to be closed until late summer and that insurance would pay for repairs. He said it was too early to say what role the crowd's enthusiasm might have played in the accident.

"Our church has had many concerts before over the years and we've had the dancing, the jumping up and down in the past," Colin Ashton said from the scene. "I'll leave that for the engineers to give the final answer on."

He said some Starfield band members returned to the church Monday to retrieve gear that had been left amid the debris.

At the band's next tour stops, in Edmonton and Calgary, the church venues feature concrete floors and no basements.

"We don't have any concerns regarding what had happened, although we have extra security people and extra volunteers on hand just to make sure that things go smoothly," said Kevin Schellenberg, creative ministries director at the West Edmonton Christian Assembly.

"We will probably take measures here at the concert on Wednesday to ensure that people are being safe," echoed pastor Greg McCombs of Calgary's First Alliance Church.

"In light of what's happened in Abbotsford I think people are going to be probably a little more subdued."

McCombs said churches are a common venue for Christian rock bands, who view their faith-based music as opportunities for worship as much as dancing.

"If they were to book a stadium in a city like this, (they) could do quite well but the basis of their work is church-based anyway and obviously heavily faith-based," said McCombs, whose church features theatre-style seats instead of pews and professional lighting equipment.

"The most natural setting is in a church."