Bricks Rain Down as South Philly Building Collapses

Owner cited by the city

It was a scary experience for residents in South Philly late Tuesday night when their three-story apartment building collapsed sending bricks and debris onto the street and sidewalk below.

Luckily no one was hurt when the home on the 700 block of S 15th Street (near Clymer) crumpled.

But the damage was fairly extensive as bricks, an air conditioning unit, what appeared to be a table and more debris showered down to the street below crushing at least one parked car.

License and Inspections cited owner Dale Jones for owning an unsafe structure and ordered him to get an engineer to inspect the property.

Officials haven't determined exactly what caused the collapse. It did however appear that the fall down started in the rear of the third story of the apartment house, Philadelphia Police said.

Occupants were living on the bottom two floors, cops said.

It's possible that recent rains contributed to the collapse.

Jones told NBC Philadelphia that the building has been in their family for about 90 years. He hopes to rebuild, he said.


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