Family escapes as house partially collapses

[Brian Hannigan]

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Four members of a Los Angeles family are homeless after a portion of their home collapsed on Wednesday night in the Mid-City area.

Family escapes as house partially collapses | Video | abc7.com (http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7244832)

[Bruce Breedlove]

City building inspector to assess collapsed house (http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_14285894)



A Mid-City area house that partially collapsed, displacing four adults, was expected to be assessed today by a city Building and Safety inspector.

The partial collapse occurred around 10:25 p.m. Wednesday . . ., said Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

"The residents heard creaking and they got out," Scott said.

. . .

"It's undetermined as to why" the house collapsed, Scott said.

The house appeared to have dropped 12-18 inches, while a porch remained at its normal level, according to an On Scene videographer. Damage visible from the outside included an exterior wall and part of the roof that appeared to have buckled, On Scene reported.

The city's Department of Building and Safety was notified, Scott said.



With that limited information it sounds like a foundation failure of some sort. Perhaps a pier failed (or was removed) or a beam failed. It will be interesting what the city inspector finds.

[Jerry Peck]

From the limited information available, but based on a pre-failure comment by the cable guy that the beams were slanted or at an angle, if true that may indicate a main girder was not vertical and rotated backward, taking everything above it with it.

As to what caused the girder (if that was even the case) to be slanted or at an angle, that may be "the cause" and there is not enough information to presume anything at this time.

[Matt Fellman]

"They'll consider getting legal advice" - later that day there was a stampede reported at the very same house as a rush of attorneys tried to be the first on the scene :)

I particularly like the deer in headlights owners.

I'd bet on bug damage that weakened it and caused the initial failure (that the cable guy noticed) and then just everyday movement in the house to bring it down. Of course it's just a total guess.

With some of the bug infested dumps I see I'm surprised this stuff doesn't happen more. I often feel crazy lying beneath the thing stabbing at the structure. It's like lying beneath an elevated care while chipping away at the jackstands....