Floor collapses at Hawthorne apartment complex in Passaic County, New Jersey
HAWTHORNE, N.J. -- More than a dozen families were displaced by partial building collapse in Passaic County on Sunday.
CBS New York heard from residents who claim it might have been the result of years of neglect.
Gaping holes were found in the back patio, and all around the side of the Building E in the Hawthorne Garden Apartment Complex. It all happened outside Donna Petrillo's first-floor apartment over 20 years.
"I was just getting out of bed and I heard this loud, loud banging, rattling," Petrillo said.
She said it sounded like bad thunder at around 8:30 a.m. on what was a rainy Sunday, but it was the floor below her sinking into the basement.
"I went towards the back of my door and I couldn't get out and I noticed that the molding was separating and my door was separating," Petrillo said.
She lives with her 95-year-old mother, who was also safely removed from the apartment, along with the seen others and their pets. Hawthorne Fire Department officials said no one was injured.
"The foundation wall underneath the building collapsed into the basement, which is now dragging the first floor into the basement," Hawthorne Fire Chief Joe Speranza said.
Speranza said it might have been years in the making, saying the moist, sponge-like soil in the ground must've pushed the retaining wall to the point of collapse.
The collapse also crushed all nine boilers in the basement. They supply heat and gas to at least 30 other apartments.
"I just grabbed as much stuff out as possible. I still have personal belongings in there," resident Michael Barchetto said.
Barchetto, who is Petrillo's boyfriend, said he believes it was only a matter of time, adding he had seen cracks in the walls and ceiling of his apartment for years.
The landlord of the complex did not comment on the incident.
The Red Cross set up a resource center at Hawthorne's firehouse nearby.
The fire department made a collapse zone at the collapse site, adding the residents might never get a chance to come back because the building will likely have to be demolished.