Man Rescued From Rubble After Building Collapses In Grays Ferry
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Bricks and shards of wood line the sidewalks of Patton and Reed Streets, where a two-story row home was reduced to rubble Saturday morning in Grays Ferry.
The loud banging of bricks crumbling to the ground rocked this quiet section of the neighborhood around 8 a.m. in the 1400 block of Patton Street, and Gregory Cooper watched it happen from his bedroom window across the street.
"It's just amazing," he said. "You see the house fall, big cloud of dust, and it just happened so fast. It was just like, if you blinked you would have missed it."
He immediately went to see if anyone needed help.
"I ran out to see if anyone was inside the building, cause that's your first instinct," he said. "I ran to the front of the building and I asked if anyone was in there. I heard a voice, in the back of the house, hollering for help."
When he went around back, he said a man was trapped in the remains of the house.
"He was pretty much, probably stuck in the back bedroom. And that's probably what saved his life, because he was at the top of the rubble."
A strong smell of gas-filled the air though, so Gregory called 9-1-1, and waited for fire crews to arrive. He watched as they brought out a man covered in dust.
The 39-year-old man was taken to the Presbyterian Hospital, where he was being treated for a back injury.
Cooper says seeing it happen reminded him of the deadly Salvation Army Collapse on Market Street.
"Because of all the lives that were lost over there, my first instinct was to make sure somebody was there to get him help if he needed help to get out, or to call for help."
And Cooper says it's fortunate the building collapsed when it did -- in the way that it did.
"Kids go up and down this block to school up there," he said. "My first thought was my God, if this happened on a weekday when these kids were getting out of school, it could've been a worse thing than what it is today."
Fortunately, no one else was inside the home and nobody else was injured.
"It didn't collapse into the other buildings that are nearby. And no one was in the barbershop or on the street at the time of the collapse except for that one victim who has been taken to the hospital," said a spokesperson with the Department of Licenses and Inspections.
Crews spent much of the day cutting electric and gas lines to several properties -- and preparing the site for demolition and clean-up.
There's no word on what caused the collapse.
The Licenses and Inspections Department tells CBS 3 there was no history of violations at this property.
Patton Street was closed as a result. Drivers were being urged to avoid the area, if possible.
