Philadelphia Building Being Demolished Collapses On Salvation Army

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people who were in that building and their families…

Via USA Today reports:

A four-story building being demolished collapsed onto a Salvation Army store in downtown Philadelphia on Wednesday, injuring 13 people and reportedly killing two others.

Mayor Michael Nutter said officials do not know how many people were in the popular thrift store, at 22nd and Market streets, when it was crushed about 10:45 a.m.

Search-and-rescue operations would continue for at least 12 to 24 hours, officials said at a midafternoon news briefing.

Crews pulled 14 people out of tons of rubble. Philly.com quoted a witness as saying firefighters removed what appeared to be a body bag from the store.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said that 13 people were removed with minor injuries, but he had “no comment” regarding a 15th body or reported deaths.

A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter at the scene said a law enforcement source confirmed two dead. Other news organizations were reporting only one death.

Nutter, who rushed from City Hall, eight blocks away, said those injured were in “stable condition, aware and talking.”

One witness, Jordan McLaughlin, told CNN that workers were apparently knocking down the taller building “and it collapsed the wrong way.”

“There was a big aftershock,” he said. “There were people that fell over; there were people screaming and running across the street. We could hear people screaming inside the building.”

The fire commissioner said the biggest challenge for rescue teams was using heavy equipment is “getting people disentangled from the tons of rubble and getting them extricated. ”

He said the search was primarily focused on the front and rear of the building, but that teams “are going to search until we get to the basement.”

Ayers said that the four-story building was made up of retail stores and apartments. It collapsed onto the one-story Salvation Army store. The front of the second store remained intact.

“This is an active Salvation Army thrift store,” said Nutter. “At any point in time you’re not going to necessarily know how many people are in the store.”

Witnesses said they heard a loud rumbling sound immediately before the collapse around 10:45 a.m. ET.

Glynn and Anthony Soli were working on a roof atop a nearby building when they heard what sounded like two loud bangs or explosions. They immediately ran down the scaffolding and helped pull out two women and a man.

Glynn said he had been watching workers take down the doomed building over the past few weeks, and said he suspected a collapse was inevitable because of the methods the workers were using to tear it down.

“For weeks they’ve been standing on the edge, knocking bricks off,” he said. “You could just see it was ready to go at any time. I knew it was going to happen.”

Carlton Williams of the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections said there were no existing violations on the building and the demolition company had proper permits for the work they were doing.

The city issued a demolition permit for the four-story structure on Feb. 1. Demolition was being done by Griffin Campbell Construction, based in Philadelphia.

Records show the building was owned by a real estate mogul whose holdings at one time included adult film theaters in Philadelphia and New York before online adult video killed the walk-in business, KYW reported.

Richard Basciano has owned several properties on west Market Street, including the Forum Theater, the city’s last adult film theater, a block from Wednesday’s collapse. It finally closed in November.

The New York Times once dubbed him “the undisputed king of Times Square p**n.”

Basciano was demolishing the four-story structure to put up a 20-to-22 story apartment building with store on the street level, KYW said.

We hope there aren’t any more deaths as a result of this terrible tragedy! Praying for those affected.