Firefighters frantically searched for trapped bodies under a pile of debris that was 12 feet high in spots after a Bronx apartment building in the Morris Heights neighborhood partially collapsed on Monday afternoon. The apartments and a convenience store were partly buried under bricks and wood. There were no victims, but two individuals suffered minor injuries while evacuating the building, according to the FDNY.
Photographs and videos showed rooms in the units at the 1915 Billingsley Terrace building’s corner exposed. It looked as if the walls had been torn apart. The tangle of metal and wood uncovered evidence of the lives interrupted by the partial collapse.
Cause of Building Collapse Unknown
Officials are still trying to determine the cause of the building collapse, which was undergoing façade repairs. Buildings Department records show that a 2020 inspection found cracked and loose bricks, which damaged the mortar on the building’s façade. The building was built in 1927.
A Building in Disrepair, A History of Violations
One of the residents told reporters that people had been complaining for years about the building’s disrepair. “People said this place is going to fall apart piece by piece,” said Maridelsa Fana, a third-floor resident. “But no one imagined this.”
The 46-unit building, according to Commissioner Jimmy Oddo, has received numerous violations, some of which are unresolved. In November of this year, the Department of Buildings fined the owner $2,400 for “deteriorated and broken mudsills” at the scaffolding base surrounding the property. The damage could compromise the scaffolding’s “structural stability, resulting in a potential collapse,” according to the fine.
CBS New York obtained a photo of the building between 1939 and 1941, showing that not much has been updated on the exterior.
