NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A residential high-rise in the Bronx partially collapsed on Wednesday morning, but miraculously no one has been reported injured, officials said.
The FDNY said it received a call at 8:10 a.m. about an explosion and incinerator shaft collapse at 205 Alexander Ave. in Mott Haven. The building is part of NYCHA's Mitchel Houses.
Mayor Eric Adams confirmed no injuries or deaths were reported in the collapse of the chimney, which rose up from the building’s boiler room. Officials were trying to determine what caused the blast heard by some residents prior to the collapse.
Citizen App video shows a gaping hole along the side of the 20-story residential tower, from the roof all the way down to the basement.
City officials in charge of public buildings said they need to investigate to see what went wrong. Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo said he believed work was being done on the boiler at the time.
The city’s Emergency Management Commissioner, Zach Iscol, said building inspectors are checking the building’s foundations and the apartments in the impacted area to make sure they are sound. The mayor said the building will be repaired.
No injuries had been reported despite the intensity of the collapse, which enveloped the area in a cloud of dust and left a pile of bricks and other debris. Rescue dogs searched through the huge pile, sniffing for anyone who might be buried under the rubble.
Residents reported hearing an explosion and feeling the building shake around the time of the collapse. "It was like a loud boom," one resident, Anna, told 1010 WINS. "Just like something popped and the building shook."
About 40 apartments had been evacuated and gas was shut off to the building, the FDNY said.
Members of the Mayor's Office, OEM, the FDNY, the NYPD and Con Edison are at the scene, as are Department of Buildings inspectors.
Incinerator shafts in New York City buildings were once used to dispose of trash, which was then burned on site. But they have largely been replaced with trash compactors, which can use the same chutes.