Philadelphia

‘Miracle on Marion Street': Couple Narrowly Escapes as House Collapses Onto Them

"We gotta be blessed that we got out of here."

That's how Lisa Payne summed up escaping from a collapse that left her Germantown home reduced to rubble.

The home at Marion and Ashmead streets in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood collapsed around 1 a.m., displacing nine people.[[371714421, C]]

Lisa and Aaron Brisbon were getting into bed at the time. Aaron had just laid out his clothing for a family funeral the next morning.

"We just heard boom, boom, next thing you know it just came down," said Aaron. [[371636171, C]]

Somehow, the couple -- who lived in the home for the past four years -- managed to escape the falling debris, walking out the still standing front door.

"He caught the ceiling and I was holding it up, and he said 'come on, let's get out,'" said Lisa. "Thank God we out of there and not hurt."[[371676111, C]]

NBC10's Monique Braxton dubbed it the "Miracle on Marion Street" since no one was hurt.

Lisa and Aaron were among nine people from two homes assisted by the American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

A friend had asked the couple just the previous day about the house after seeing some sagging in a ceiling. Licenses & Inspections said the home was listed as vacant back in 2010 but that there were no reports of it being imminently dangerous.

L&I planned to demolish the rest of the home Thursday.

Investigators said Friday that the cause of the collapse could be blamed on water damage.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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