Search goes on in condo’s ruins

Phoenix man visiting family helped rescue teen boy after Florida high-rise collapsed.

A man from Phoenix didn’t hesitate when he found a teenage boy in the rubble of the 12-story condo building that partially collapsed on Thursday in Surfside, Florida.

The tragic incident killed at least four when the residential building collapsed just north of Miami, leaving 159 still missing, according to a report from USA TODAY.

Nicholas Balboa was having trouble sleeping and decided to walk his dog at 1:30 a.m. — his sleep schedule was still on Phoenix time since he arrived at Surfside to celebrate Father’s Day with his dad.

The earth beneath him shook and the sound of thunder clashed when the condo fell, he recalled.

“Initially, I thought it was a storm rolling in,” he told The Arizona Republic, “but about 30 seconds later, I heard it again and then felt the ground shake . ... I know that thunder doesn’t do that.”

Realizing something was off, he took the dog upstairs, and seeing neighbors come out and move down the street, he followed, he said.

“When I got to the building, I could see some of the balconies had fallen off, and I wasn’t quite sure the extent of the damage being that the backside of the building was all dark.”

Emergency crews started setting up a perimeter, but Balboa wanted a better view so he made his way down the beach and to the destroyed side of the building, he said.

He wandered the mostly empty area, looking at what was left behind.

Then he heard somebody yell.

“I got closer and when I could make out ... what he was saying and actually hear his voice clearly, I could tell that he was young,” he said.

The yells were coming from a 15-yearold teenager, according to Balboa.

“I said, ‘I can hear you. Keep yelling, keep making noise so I can follow your voice.’ And he said, ‘Can you see me?’ and his arm was sticking up through the rubble, and I said, ‘Yeah, I can see you! I can see you! I’ll be right there,’ ” Balboa explained.

He tried making his way through the broken, glass, rebar and concrete in flipflops to get to the teenager, he explained.

He told the teenager he was going to go get help.

“He was just like ‘Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave me,’ ” Balboa said. So instead of leaving the teenager, he stayed and used the light on his phone to signal emergency crews over to where they were, he explained.

It was later that Balboa got to see a video of them pulling the teenager out. He also learned that the teenager lost his mom in the collapse.

She was pulled out but did not survive, according to Balboa.

Crews found the teenager’s mother, Staci Fang, 54, and amputated a limb to remove her from the wreckage, Balboa said.

She died on Friday, according to a statement put out by relatives.

Balboa felt a connection to the teenager’s loss — Balboa’s mother had recently died after fighting cancer.

“I’m gonna make an effort to try and go to the hospital and visit with him and help him try and get through this awful thing,” Balboa said. “He lost everything. He just lost his mom, like, it’s a bad situation.”

“Initially, I thought it was a storm rolling in, but about 30 seconds later, I heard it again and then felt the ground shake . ... I know that thunder doesn’t do that. ... When I got to the building, I could see some of the balconies had fallen off, and I wasn’t quite sure the extent of the damage being that the backside of the building was all dark.”

Nicholas Balboa

Phoenix man who helped save teen from Florida condo collapse