Update, October 14: The city has given the address as 38-40 Orange Street and said nine residents were relocated, with help from the property owner and the Fire Department in finding temporary housing, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. A follow-up inspection Monday found both 38 and 40 Orange Street unsafe to occupy, and the building’s fire alarm system was damaged, according to the city. A drone inspection had found a gap between the front and side walls, a sagging roof and a lean toward 38 Orange Street. Mike McAteer, the city’s director of inspectional services, told the Globe the building dates to 1890 to 1900 and has a “double width brick” exterior wall, a design no longer allowed in new construction, and that decades of water seeping into cracks, freezing and breaking the brick led to the collapse. The owner’s engineers were expected to assess the building Tuesday. The city said it is “highly motivated” to help the owner make repairs so residents can return quickly.
Updated October 12: Six families have been displaced and will not be able to go back to the building for some time, WCVB reported Monday. City inspectors traced the damage to water leaking from the roof.
Residents of a three-story brick building on Orange Street were forced out of their homes Sunday night, October 11, when a large section of the building’s front wall collapsed onto the sidewalk, according to the Chelsea Fire Department and Boston television stations. No one was hurt. A Telemundo reporter at the scene gave the address as 40 Orange Street.
The wall came down at about 8:30 p.m., NBC Boston reported. Firefighters called it a “significant front structural collapse.” Jenny Morales, who rents one of the building’s nine units, told WCVB she first thought a truck had hit the building. “We came out and saw all the bricks and said, ‘What’s going on?'” Morales said.
“The whole front of the building collapsed, some serious structural instability in the building, so we evacuated all the residents,” Deputy Fire Chief Robert Denning told WHDH. Crews shut off power and gas, and the displaced residents waited out the rain on an MBTA bus brought to the scene, according to the reports.
The department used its new drone unit to look at the damage from above. “It’s actually showing us that there’s some real structural damage to this building, and it is in danger of coming down,” Denning told WHDH Sunday night. Boston 25 News later reported that the fire chief said there was no concern of a further collapse. “It helps unbelievably,” Denning told WCVB of the drone. “We can see the roof, the side of the building, all four sides, inside.”
What caused it
The city’s Inspectional Services Department found that water seeping in from the roof had damaged the wall behind the brick front and rotted the wood inside it, WCVB reported. The building’s entire right-side wall is also bowing in three places.
Crews put up scaffolding and a plywood basket to catch any more falling debris. Mark Culleton of Action Emergency Services, the company temporarily shoring up the building, told WCVB the next step is to pull off loose debris and wood and wrap the building from the roof to the street to keep water out. “There is extensive damage to the property,” Culleton said. A structural engineer is scheduled to evaluate the building and decide what comes next.
The families
Residents went back in Monday to get their belongings but were told they would not be able to return for some time, according to WCVB. Residents of a connected building next door are being allowed to stay, but some have said they are worried about their safety. “No, I don’t feel safe anymore,” Morales said. A neighbor, Teresa Murray, said the building had not been kept up. “They should have done a better job with maintenance in the building,” Murray told WCVB.
Orange Street was closed for several hours and reopened to traffic by 6:30 a.m. Monday, NBC Boston reported.
The reports did not say where the six families are staying or name the building’s owner. We have not seen a statement from the city about the collapse. This story will be updated if more is known.
File photo: Chelsea’s fire chief at a September 3 ceremony.