Tenants of collapsed BX building wait to return home

A day after dozens of residents were evacuated from a building at 2194 Barnes Ave., city inspectors were on site Tuesday to determine whether it would be safe for tenants to return to their apartments.

News 12 Staff

Jun 24, 2008, 11:55 PM

Updated 5,876 days ago

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A day after dozens of residents were evacuated from a building at 2194 Barnes Ave., city inspectors were on site Tuesday to determine whether it would be safe for tenants to return to their apartments.
Fire officials say a routine inspection revealed a sagging floor and large cracks in one of the supporting walls in the basement of the six-story building.
Following the discovery, 13 of the 59 apartments had to be vacated. Out of the 13 families, only three requested emergency housing from the Red Cross. Others made their own accommodations.
Oscar Ramirez, the former superintendent of the building who was evacuated when a portion of the building collapsed Monday, says the problem has been going on for a while, and that the management of the building was aware of it.
?All this wouldn?t be happening right now if he came to the building to see what?s going on and assessed the problem,? Ramirez says. ?But it?s always a runaround, and I reported it more than once.?
Office of Emergency Management, police, fire officials and an engineer were called to the scene in order to determine whether or not the building was stable enough for the tenants to return to their apartments.
NYFD Battalion chief Patrick Reddick says the owner of the building hired an engineer and a construction crew, which will come in to fix the floor and replace the cracked wall once the underlying cause of the collapse has been pin-pointed.


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