Weekly The Generation, Year 1, Issue 15
December 12, 2023
The Generation Desk: The corner of a seven-story building in the Bronx collapsed Monday (December 11) afternoon, exposing several apartments, but miraculously nobody was seriously injured, officials said.
Firefighters scoured a mound of rubble to ensure no one was trapped Monday evening after a corner of a seven-story Bronx apartment building collapsed, leaving apartments exposed like a stack of shelves and a conveni-ence store partly buried under bricks and wood. Firefighters searched the massive mounds of rubble for any possible victims, but fortunately there was nobody under the debris, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said Monday night. Two civilians suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, the FDNY said.
The building superintendent told Lisa Rozner he believed everyone was accounted for, though at first, given the busy nature of this street, it was unclear. Felix Vargas said he was working on a unit when his wife called from their third-floor apartment. The owner of the first-floor bodega says in Spanish he ran out just in time. “We heard a crack and were able to leave. That’s when everything came tumbling down,” Jason Castillo said.
FDNY members were on the scene 1 minute, 36 seconds after the call came in, OEM Commissioner Zach Iscol said. “We immediately vacated evacuated the building and started to concentrate on the debris pile in front of the building — to search for any victims,” FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens said. “We don’t know what caused the corner of this building to collapse, and we don’t know if any more of it is going to come down.”
FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh went into further detail on the work her firefighters were doing, saying drones, K9 units, specially trained firefighters, tactical units, EMTs and rescue medics were deployed.
The FDNY gave the address as 1915 Billingsley Terrace. The portion of the building which collapsed, however, is located on West Burnside Avenue, and the address was initially given as 172 West Burnside Ave. There are several open violations at the building, CBS New York’s Tim McNicholas reported.
The residents of 172 West Burnside Ave. still can’t believe what they saw … and felt. “The ground was shaking a lot. It was like an earthquake. I was scared,” tenant Angel Soto told CBS New York’s Naveen Dhaliwal. Soto was working remotely Monday afternoon when a part of his apartment building came crashing down. All utilities were shut off at the building.
The FDNY, NYPD and Department of Buildings were among the emergency responders at the scene. The Red Cross was assisting residents. Metro-North Hudson Line service was suspended in both directions between Grand Central and Spuyten Duyvil because of the collapse.
Source: CBS New York/Fox News/New York Post
