The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Back room of house collapses
The South Amherst Fire Department was called out to 151 W. Main St. on May 31 after a back room collapsed and was detached from the house.
Firefighters responded at 12:10 p.m. and checked the rest of the residence to see if it was secure, according to South Amherst fire officials.
“It was an old room that should have been removed awhile ago,” said Robert Johnson, the owner of the house. “The building was built 120 years ago, and that extra room was put in sometime in the 1950s.
“It was never built with any real support system. This was not much of a surprise.”
Johnson said he bought the building in 2012 and has rented it to different tenants over the past few years.
“We had the entire building
remodeled recently except for the room that just collapsed,” he said. “The room wasn’t really used for anything.
“It really served no purpose, and none of the tenants ever used it. The people who had the house before me used it as a laundry room, but it has hardly been used since I bought it.”
Johnson said he was waiting to hear back about the rest of the house.
“It appears it’s just the back part,” he said.
“The building inspector will be by soon to see, but everything else should be OK.
“There was no one thing that caused the collapse. It was something that probably happened over time, and the fire chief said it could have been due to the water buildup we have been experiencing lately.
“I was going to hire someone to tear it off, so I guess I saved some money in that regard.”
Leah Ferrell, the current tenant of the house, said she was at work when she got the call.
“I fortunately, didn’t have anything in there when it fell,” Ferrell said. “I hope I can stay here tonight, I’m still waiting to here on that.
“The rest of the building seems to be holding up pretty well, so it shouldn’t take too long to sort it all out. I’m just glad no one was hurt because of it.”