Captain Michael Roman
MICHAELROMAN
This afternoon we got a report of
a possible structure fire and as
crews arrived on scene we were able
to confirm that there was a partial
collapse of structure due to a
failure of the crane system on site.
There's no fire involved,
it was just the dust from the
concrete that shot out of the
building and the people on the
street thought they saw smoke.
What floor did it happen on?
Between 9:00 and 10:00 reported and
there were four people taken to the
hospital where they construction
workers are there four people on
site that had minor injuries were
transported by Grady hospital.
OK And the crane was inside the
building or the crane is attached
to the structure which is normal
for construction of this type and
became unstable and to the nature.
We shut down operations.
The construction site had all
evacuation for one block radius.
And we're just waiting For more
information for building engineers
and the crane company to move further.
But there's no victims on site,
so there's no rescue taking place.
Did I hear you're talking to some
other people that live in the area
saying they couldn't go home right now?
That's correct.
We evacuated one block greatest at this time.
So we evacuated 4 buildings.
And the South end is what we
deemed to be the most in danger.
So there's a fully occupied apartment
structure that we emptied at this time.
You know the name of that at this time?
I don't know.
We just took the buildings in that area
and we just make got with management,
had them evacuate.
Is this an apartment building that's
being built or do you know this is some
type of condominium apartment complex?
Yes.
I don't know what it's going
to be in the end,
but it's just active construction.
It's not occupied right now.
Building engineers are making sure that
this is still structurally correct.
All the bosses from the construction company,
the crank company,
and they've got the engineers coming,
they've got subject matter experts coming in,
they're climbing right now to come
take a look on site and see what the
next step of action is going to be.
They should avoid the air for the
next few hours until we know more.
And at that point they'll probably
be another confirmed statement to
let them know what time the air
will be open for normal operation.
Can you tell at this point what may have
caused the crane to collapse at this time?
I don't know, but there was
a failure to the crane.
That's why we're in the situation
we're in right now.
Would that be like too heavy of
a load that may cause?
No, there was no load on the crane.
They are in a transition for
moving from 1 crane to the other,
but that's not what they were doing today.
So until the engineers come out or
possibly OSHA comes and investigates,
we won't know for sure.
We just know that something fell
and causes partial collapse to two
floors and there's instability of
the structure on a high level floors.
So that's why we cleared the
building or stopped off construction
and we had anyone with an injury
on site transported
right now possibly, but based on the
engineer's initial reaction, that's why
we had all clear all floors cleared and
OSHA is on their way.
I haven't confirmed that yet,
but I'm assuming next step is going to be
with OSHA with the collapse in the like
parking garage area or one of the floors.
It's on the balcony side,
so not not involved in the parking garage.
Do you know if the crane
collapse like inside?
No, the crane's still standing.
It was just a component that fell off.
That's as far as that we know.
And we had our drone up.
So we have a full aerial visual of it,
full accountability of people,
buildings empty,
all construction workers are out,
all fire fires are out.
What's the extent of that damage?
One, one floor is damaged,
it's unstable on one-on-one
of the high levels.
Who do you know who inspects
these construction sites with the
cranes themselves at at this time?
No, I couldn't tell you who does
it for this site specifically,
but there are people on site that
do inspect this project was full.
You have safety crews, engineers,
crane engineers that are all involved.
So they're going to look at
it and see at what point.
There was a failure in the system
or a mistake and go from there.
What what would you say to to them
obviously and and folks walking around
that this could have ended up much
worse than the importance of the inspections.
Well,
it's important to maintain your
equipment inspected throughout,
but there's a lot of moving pieces
on sites like this.
But right now avoid the area,
you know there's be a lot of
movement for Fire Rescue and the
the engineers and the construction
companies probably going to
be moving some equipment in.
So to the extent of what this
area is going to be closed,
I can't answer that right now.
Thank you. Good. Thanks.