Apartment Building Partially Collapses In East Pittsburgh
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
EAST PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It was a close call in East Pittsburgh as a partial building collapse sent bricks and debris tumbling down with people in their apartments. Now three people have been forced out of their homes.
Just after 10 p.m. Thursday in the 500 block of Main Street, Nelson Diggs was settling down for the night.
"I was sitting down. I just put my pajamas on. Relaxing," Diggs said. "Then, all of a sudden, it sounded like someone threw a bomb or something at the house."
The noise of the falling bricks sent Diggs looking for an exit to get to safety.
"Man, I just got up and I ran. I ran. I was like what's going on. I opened up the door and nothing was there," Diggs said to KDKA.
Where a porch used to be was just empty space. According to fire crews at the scene, the bricks created a domino effect. The third floor fell into the second, and it all came crashing down on the first floor. All three people who live in the building were not injured.
"I'm imagining we're going to have to move. I don't know what the plan is," Diggs said while looking at the debris left behind.
Three people have been forced out of their homes after a partial building collapse in the 500 block of Main Street in East Pittsburgh. The bricks fell off the roof area. We're told no one was injured. @KDKA pic.twitter.com/zJoZ6fS4pp
— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) January 8, 2021
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Diggs has lived in the building for four years and plans to be in contact with his landlord about what's next. He is currently staying with his girlfriend.
At this point, there has been no word on a cause, but Diggs says there have been water problems in the past.
"I expected it to go, but I didn't expect it to go like that," Diggs said.
County records say it was built in 1940 and rated it as fair condition.