# Philadelphia building collapses **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215 "2013-06-05T16:00:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/1 "2013-06-05T16:00:45Z")
[Story here](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUILDING_COLLAPSE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-05-11-49-33), but there’s not much detail yet. People are trapped, 5 have been taken to hospitals, and there’s likely some dead. WTF? This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen in the US. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/2 "2013-06-05T16:17:59Z")
just a few blocks away from me. the salvation army has a thrift store that was collapsed by the 4 story building that fell. that is where the rescue efforts are concentrated. i’m told they have half price wednesday, if this happened a few hours later the store would have been filled with lunch time shoppers. the fire station is only a few doors away from the collapse. this block and the block next to it have buildings that are being demolished here and there causing the buildings to look like a six year old kid’s smile. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/3 "2013-06-05T16:19:51Z")
I work in Philly and that’s not far from where I went to grad school. When something like this happens you feel compelled to _do_ something, but the reality is probably that the best thing to do is stay out of the way. I hope these people are out safely, and soon. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/4 "2013-06-05T17:47:22Z")
Reading the story, they were using the “tear it down brick by brick to sell the old bricks to rich people for garden paths” method. I’ve watched buildings be disassembled like this, and always thought it was only a matter of time before someone was killed on one of these worksites. OSHA regulations are non-existent on these locations. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/5 "2013-06-05T18:18:10Z")
Now taking bets on how long it’ll be before Alex Jones/Glenn Beck/one of their fellow travelers says it was a “false flag”. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/6 "2013-06-05T18:26:25Z")
I’ve actually seen situations where some loonball was operating an excavator on the second floor of the building being torn down. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/7 "2013-06-05T18:28:40Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Reading the story, they were using the “tear it down brick by brick to sell the old bricks to rich people for garden paths” method. I’m confused. Were they working from the bottom up? Because if so, I agree, that’s probably unwise, at best. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/8 "2013-06-05T18:33:33Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’m confused. Were they working from the bottom up? Because if so, I agree, that’s probably unwise, at best. I was objecting to the whole idea of tearing a building down by sending in a bunch of people with hammers to knock individual bricks off the wall, as opposed to just knocking down the wall with a bulldozer. They do this to maximize the yield of whole, unbroken bricks. It’s insanely dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/9 "2013-06-05T19:00:25Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > OSHA regulations are non-existent on these locations. Last month I attended an address by the OSHA SE regional deputy director. He said that if all the inspectors were called in to work in only the Atlanta metropolitan area, they wouldn’t be done for thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/10 "2013-06-05T23:16:33Z")
I’ve donated clothes to that Salvation Army & parked in the garage on the other side on occasion when I worked in sight of the building that was being demolished. What I’ve heard was that the wall wasn’t properly shored up which is why it went for it’s own demolition schedule. At least one confirmed dead now. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/11 "2013-06-06T03:17:50Z")
Shit! Now it’s six dead & they’re still searching. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/12 "2013-06-06T03:19:07Z")
Note to self: if the building next to mine is being demolished, do not be in my building. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/13 "2013-06-06T06:43:46Z")
14 survivors now that they pulled a 61 year old lady out of the rubble. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/14 "2013-06-06T07:05:33Z")
Any word on whether the demolition contractor was a reputable business? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/15 "2013-06-06T07:08:32Z")
From what I’ve read the contractor had all the proper permits and was performing the work in the manner they had said they would. Apparently the city allows the type of brick-stripping demolition work they were engaged in. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/16 "2013-06-06T13:52:03Z")
I’m amazed how little traction this event has gotten in mainstream media. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/17 "2013-06-06T15:29:12Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Any word on whether the demolition contractor was a reputable business? From the local paper it was “led by a demolition boss who in addition to a criminal record, also has a history of violations on other properties he’s worked on.” The TV news has been playing up the criminal record, including insurance fraud for a faked car accident & some drug activity. WTF this has to do with his current company I’m not really sure. They also dug up that he filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Again, not _necessarily_ germain to whether it was a reputable business or not. I also heard something about the crane/heavy equipment operator had a felony in his background as well. The quotes from an architect & a construction guy on a nearby but unrelated job who saw it prior to tumbling & said it didn’t look right & wasn’t shored up as it should be absolutely are pertinent. I am in NO way trying to defend the guy, just wondering why something he personally did bad 8 years ago has any bearing on his current professional actions. Might show a pattern of overall bad character but I think that’s a leap. > [@Laggard](#): > > I’m amazed how little traction this event has gotten in mainstream media. It was the lead story on NBC National (TV) news last night, it was lead story on Yahoo’s website for a while yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/18 "2013-06-06T15:47:25Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The TV news has been playing up the criminal record, including insurance fraud for a faked car accident & some drug activity. WTF this has to do with his current company I’m not really sure. They also dug up that he filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Again, not _necessarily_ germain to whether it was a reputable business or not. > I also heard something about the crane/heavy equipment operator had a felony in his background as well. To be fair, I’m willing to bet that if there’s any legitimate industry that’s chock-full of ex-cons, it’s probably going to be construction/general labor. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/19 "2013-06-06T16:41:42Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > It was the lead story on NBC National (TV) news last night, it was lead story on Yahoo’s website for a while yesterday. CNN has lead two days in a row now with a Hurricane and NSA data probes. I don’t even know if it ever was a headline on CNN. MSNBC meanwhile today leads with a piece on drones. Fox leads with phone data collection also. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215/20 "2013-06-06T16:46:56Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > To be fair, I’m willing to bet that if there’s any legitimate industry that’s chock-full of ex-cons, it’s probably going to be construction/general labor. I’ve seen this sort of work done before, and it is **not** the sort of job you take if anyone else will hire you. You have a hammer. You knock a brick off of a wall with the hammer. You break the mortar off the brick. You stack the brick onto the pile of bricks on a pallet. Repeat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-building-collapses/660215.md?page=2)