Philadelphia

Neighbors Help Save Trapped Man After Home Collapses

Neighbors jumped into action Saturday to help save a man who was trapped in the rubble after his Philadelphia home collapsed.

Tiffany Howard told NBC10 she was sleeping around 7:45 a.m. when she heard a loud noise. As she looked outside she noticed her neighbor's two-story home on the 1400 block of South Patton Street collapsing.

"From my bedroom you can see and you heard it and first we thought it was just like a tree," Howard said. "Then you could hear like, 'boom, boom, boom.' Like tumbling down to pieces."

A barbershop that had been closed years ago was on the first floor of the building while the 38-year-old grandson of the shop's owner was on the second floor.

"I would say it came down in a matter of five seconds," said Greg Cooper, another neighbor. "That's how fast it was." 

Realizing the 38-year-old man was inside during the collapse, neighbors ran over to the rubble. They then heard a voice coming from underneath.

"We noticed there was a voice coming from the back of the house and it was somebody saying, 'Help,'" Cooper said.

Cooper and other neighbors helped pull the man out of the rubble as rescue crews and medics arrived. Witnesses say he was covered in dust but was also conscious and appeared to be okay. The man was treated for lower back pain at the hospital, according to officials. Cooper told NBC10 the outcome could have easily been worse.

"Had he been on the first floor or the basement he might not be here today," Cooper said.

Demolition crews spent the day cleaning up the debris. PECO crews also worked on securing some of the electrical lines that were ripped down during the collapse.

L&I officials told NBC10 the building had no open violations. On Monday they confirmed the collapse was caused by the "sudden failure of the stone foundation wall along Reed Street resulting from moisture infiltration over a prolonged period of time." 

L&I official Karen Guss told NBC10 they expect to completely secure the area and remove all the debris by Tuesday at the latest.

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