Ramp enhances hope of finding any survivors
SURFSIDE, Fla. — Crews searching for survivors in the ruins of a collapsed Florida condo tower have built a ramp that should allow the use of heavier equipment, potentially accelerating the removal of concrete that “could lead to incredibly good news events,” the state fire marshal said Wednesday.
Since the sudden collapse of the 12story Champlain Towers South last week in Surfside, rescuers have been working to peel back layers of concrete on the pancaked building without disturbing the unstable pile of debris.
MiamiDade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told family members of those missing Wednesday that a ramp built onto the pile overnight allowed rescuers to use a crane on sections that were not previously accessible. He said that improves the chances of finding new pockets of space in the urgent search for survivors.
“We hope to start seeing some significant improvement in regards to the possibility of (finding) any voids that we cannot see,” Jadallah said.
In an interview with Miami television station WSVN, State Fire Marshal Jimmy Petronis described the ramp as “a Herculean effort” that would allow crews “to leverage massive equipment to remove mass pieces of concrete,” which could lead to good results.
Officials have been concerned an underground parking garage could collapse under the weight of heavy equipment, so they decided to build the makeshift limestone ramp,
Petronis said.
Six more bodies were found Tuesday night, raising the death toll in the disaster to 18 people. In addition to the six bodies, crews also found other human remains. More than 140 people are still unaccounted for.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building’s groundfloor pool deck was resting on a concrete
slab that had “major structural damage” and needed extensive repairs. The report also found “abundant cracking” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.
Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had “gotten significantly worse” and that major
repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.
Crews have already had to deal with intermittent bad weather that caused delays in the work, and they are now keeping an eye on two storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean.