Posted on 06/02/2023 3:21:49 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
An Iowa task force has completed its search for survivors at the site of a partially collapsed Davenport apartment building without finding three missing people who are feared dead, authorities said Friday. The focus has shifted to shoring up the structure so recovery efforts can begin.
The remains of the six-story apartment building were constantly in motion in the first 24 to 36 hours after it collapsed on Sunday, which officials said posed a risk to rescuers who were trying to search for survivors.
City officials earlier this week said that Brandon Colvin, Ryan Hitchcock and Daniel Prien were unaccounted for and had "high probability of being home at the time of the collapse.” All three have since been listed in the National Database of Missing Persons.
The state task force was mobilized and on site to first search for survivors and then secure the structure, Halleran said. He said the search for survivors was completed Thursday evening after electrical equipment connected to the building were controlled. The state’s search and rescue team, search dogs and cameras were used in the search Thursday.
Officials fear the unstable building will eventually collapse on its own. Adding to the challenge is a giant pile of brick and steel at the base of the building that is helping to hold up the structure but also may contain the remains of people killed in the collapse.
“We are doing the best we can to balance the building conditions and the safety of our responders,” said Fire Chief Mike Carlsten. He said conditions have forced a response that may take “days and weeks” instead of what ideally would have been minutes or hours after the collapse.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
Mayor Mike Matson has said the debris pile “could be a place of rest for some of the unaccounted” and stressed the city would be sensitive about those remains, comparing work at the site to an archeological dig.
Work to bring down the building comes amid questions about why neither the owner nor city officials warned residents about potential danger even after a structural engineer’s report issued last week indicated a wall of the century-old building was at imminent risk of crumbling.
Documents released Wednesday night show city officials and the building's owner were warned for months that parts of the building were unstable.
Union-built.
Looks old. Looks like wood framing, not steel.
That doesn’t look like the best part of town.
“the owner nor city officials warned residents about potential danger even after a structural engineer’s report issued last week indicated a wall of the century-old building was at imminent risk of crumbling.”
Davenport will be sued for big bucks. There should be criminal charges for not notifying the tenants.
Sovereign immunity is different from state to state, but in CA it would bar a lawsuit against the city
“Documents released Wednesday night show city officials and the building’s owner were warned for months that parts of the building were unstable.”
Why wasn’t the building immediately condemned and evacuated?
Isn’t that the way those things are supposed to work?
Hard to tell but it does look like structural beams were steel. But then wood and brick. Something had to give eventually. Sad for those who perished.
That can be said for a lot of the Quad Cities.
The building in question is pretty old by most standards, and it was originally a hotel. "Lots of hours on the airframe," so to speak.
Yeah. Listening to the news, the building had multiple complaints in the past. The work being done was to correct some of those problems. There was actually someone cleaning the parking lot that reported that the buildings side was BULGING out. A worker in the building todd the onlooker to get out of the way. Also sounds like the city may’ve dropped the ball on the search...only caught a small part that discussion.
It’s actually the back side of the building that collapsed. Facing the alley.
When it was built I guess piling AC units on the roof wasn’t a thing.
Like many cities Davenport’s downtown had declined but has been repurposing itself with many older buildings being converted to apartments. When Dad started my 2 generation medical practice 60 years ago, the office was two blocks from there, but he moved uptown years ago. The other side of the building is across the street from Davenport’s main public library. Building is one block from main police station, two from the county courthouse and about three from the fancy theater where Trump held his big rally in town a couple months back. That said this building obviously had problems for its tenants. And I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it also had problems from some of its tenants as the two often co-exist in urban rental housing. And the democrat dominated city government isn’t looking good either. County attorney is a Republican though.
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