A residential building located at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Bronx partially collapsed just after 3:30 pm today. The building has been cited for code violations. According to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s website, the building has 103 violations, including 48 Class C violations which are the most serious.
According to NBC NY, “Specifically, on the morning of Nov. 3, the inspector raised concerns about mudsills, the wooden or metal platforms that sit under scaffolding columns and distribute weight.
According to a copy of the violation posted online, the inspector wrote “I observed there are deteriorated and broken mudsills with inadequate support for vertical members throughout.”
The inspector added that there was “1 vertical member with missing mudsill which can compromise the structural stability causing a potential collapse.”
It is not clear if the sidewalk shed collapsed under the weight of the facade rubble – or if the scaffolding became unstable first, pulling parts of the wall down. It is also not clear if in the report from November, the inspector was talking about a “potential collapse” of the scaffolding or the building itself.”
In a press conference following the partial collapse, New York City Buildings Commissioner James Oddo noted that the latest violation report dated March 2023 listed 7 unsafe facade conditions as well as cracked bricks.
As of this writing, no injuries have been reported but safety workers have drones and dogs combing the area for potential injured persons. Officials noted they will continue to search until the possibility of injured or missing persons has been ruled out.
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