Surfside to mark collapse anniversary with public event with Jill Biden

The families of the 98 victims who died in last year’s Surfside condo collapse were scheduled to gather at the Champlain Towers South site early Friday to honor their loved ones on the one-year annitorch versary of the June 24, 2021, collapse.

A few hundred people were expected to attend the at the collapse site, because the families were permitted to invite as many guests as they wanted. The event was closed to the media and public.

The family members will light a commemorative and officially observe the anniversary at 1:22 a.m. — the moment when the building collapsed. The torch will remain lit through July 20 to represent when the last victim, Estelle Hedaya, was recovered from the rubble, said Mayor Shlomo Danzinger.

There will be a public memorial event on the site at 10 a.m. Friday. First lady Jill Biden is coming to Surfside to speak at the event. She and President Joe Biden visited Surfside last summer to meet with families and first responders.

The Miami Herald will broadcast the event live online at miamiherald.com. The town of Surfside will also broadcast it online and through its public-access cable TV channel.

Danzinger and other government officials are also scheduled to speak. Danzinger said confirmed speakers include U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, state Sen. Jason Pizzo, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who is also the state fire marshal, and

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Israeli Consul General Maor Elbaz-Starinsky will also speak, he said.

Commanders from search-and-rescue teams — whose members spent nearly a month searching for survivors and recovering deceased victims — are expected to read out the names of the 98 victims, according to a schedule of events distributed to families.