City officials in Washington, Pa., said they are intent on learning how the owner of the downtown apartment building that collapsed Wednesday morning — trapping one woman amid the debris for more than nine hours — could allow the structure to deteriorate to the point of falling in on itself.
But Mark Russo, 42, the three-story building’s landlord, said he had been attending to residents’ concerns and felt the structure was safe.
Investigators had yet to go through what was left of the 117-year-old brick building at 15 N. Main St. and East Beau Street, across from the Washington County Courthouse, and reasons for the collapse may be difficult to pull from the broken bricks. For the time being, the site is cordoned off pending an assessment of the best way to bring down the remaining walls.
“The first priority is to safely get this building down,” said city Councilman Ken Westcott, who owns Roberts & Westcott Contractors and was on the scene for Wednesday’s rescue operation.
According to Washington County assessment information, the building was built in 1900. It had eight units, the city’s code enforcement officer said. A barber shop was on the first floor and the apartments were on the second and third floors.
The Red Cross is assisting the nine displaced residents with housing. But as they viewed the rubble that was their homes, they talked of the building’s poor condition.
Edward Cook, 48, who lived on the second floor, said that during a rainstorm Tuesday night a piece of the ceiling fell and hit him in the back. Other problems residents cited included cracks in the walls and the separation of a flight of stairs from the wall.
Mr. Cook said that Wednesday morning he and a friend were playing a video game when the conversation turned to the rooms around them.
“I was telling my buddy, ‘Someday this place is going to collapse,’” Mr. Cook said.
Minutes later, it did.
Mr. Cook said he opened his door, and dust and smoke hit him like a “grenade,” forcing him back into his apartment. He said his friend pushed an air conditioner out of a window and jumped. Mr. Cook remained inside until firefighters helped escort him down what remained of the stairs.
Bradford Nickel, 36, who lived in a second-floor apartment with two friends, said he, too, predicted the building was going to fall. He knew he was right, he said, just before 9 a.m., when he heard bricks falling against something metal outside.
“I ran for my life,” Mr. Nickel said.
As he and his friends were hustling from the building, a staircase fell feet away from them.
Susan Vandevender, who lived on the third floor, said she decided to move out about two months ago because she thought the building was going to collapse.
“You could see there were some fixtures and stuff cracking,” she said. But when she told Mr. Russo about the issues, she said, he told her “that I didn’t have anything to worry about.”
Mr. Russo, whose father owned the building before him, on Wednesday said he had twice repaired cracks in the walls and was going to have an assessment of them done this week.
“If I felt it was unsafe, I would have told people to move out,” he said.
“None of these residents are structural engineers. You have a lot of people who think they know what they’re talking about,” who don’t have the expertise, he said. “I’m definitely not neglectful. ... I have no idea how that kind of structural situation happened that quickly.”
Ron McIntyre, city of Washington code enforcement officer, said he had cited Mr. Russo over issues on the property since 2011. Although Mr. McIntyre said he had not been inside the building for about a year, he said he did not anticipate that it would collapse.
“It was not something that we ever thought would occur,” Mr. McIntyre said. “It was just [a] shock and something you hope never happens. ... [But] there’s nothing we could have done differently.”
Mr. McIntyre described citations for a range of issues at the property and several others Mr. Russo owns, including cracked walls, lack of snow and ice removal, and not emptying a Dumpster. He said he would describe Mr. Russo as being negligent.
“You hate to say ‘slum lord,’ but that’s the kind of person we’re dealing with,” Mr. McIntyre said.
Mr. McIntyre said Mr. Russo was cited in February for “accessory structure for wall falling down” after bricks fell off the building.
“It’s just been an ongoing issue with him,” said Mr. McIntyre, who described the collapsed building as a total loss.
He also said he will ask District Judge Robert Redlinger, at a previously scheduled hearing for Mr. Russo next week, to fine Mr. Russo as much as possible and file a lien against the property for the cost of demolition.
“For many years we’ve been dealing with this problem,” said Mr. Westcott, the city councilman. “He’s always promised that he would make repairs to this building, and unfortunately this is what’s happened. It’s very frustrating.”
When told that Mr. Russo said he has been compliant with city codes, Mr. Westcott said, “I can’t say what I want to say. I know he’s due in court next week for multiple violations. For him to say he was compliant. ... I disagree.”
First Published: July 12, 2017, 2:13 p.m.
Updated: July 12, 2017, 6:22 p.m.
