Occupants Escape Moments Before New York Building Collapse
Witnesses said moments before a four-story building in New York collapsed in late June, the structure began to shake ominously, shedding bricks and sending up a plume of dust.

July 31, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Occupants Escape Moments Before New York Building Collapse

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Witnesses said moments before a four-story Clinton Hill building collapsed in late June, the structure began to shake ominously, shedding bricks and sending up a plume of dust.

One witness said the Myrtle Avenue building "just folded" moments after occupants fled onto the street. Four people were treated for minor injuries in the collapse that left more than a dozen people homeless.

The building next door sustained serious damage. A city council member at the scene told reporters that she expected the adjoining building would be condemned as a result of the damage to it.

According to a report issued by the New York City Buildings Department, the owner of the collapsed white-brick building was cited in May for a crack running up the east exterior wall from the ground up to the roof, as well as interior cracks on the third and fourth floors.

The owner of the Brooklyn building purchased in 2006 told the New York Times that despite the flaws, he had been told he was permitted to have tenants.

The owner received additional citations in May for having work done on his building without a permit, including the erection of a new white brick facade on the front of the building. Much of that facade wound up in the street, buried under rubble, after the building collapsed.

The building's owner was also cited for failure to have posts at the exit of a rear deck and for having no landing for a fire escape. He had also been cited and fined $1,200 last summer for building code failures, including the lack of an unobstructed fire escape.

The Department of Buildings urges residents and others with building safety complaints to call 311 to begin the complaint-filing process. In an emergency, call 911.

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