Children crushed by debris when stairwell collapses
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Raw video from KHOU, Houston
By Jennifer Latson, Jennifer Leahy and Matt Stiles, The Houston Chronicle
Firefighters have left the scene of an apartment staircase collapse that killed two boys and injured another Wednesday night, but the investigation into the structural failure is just beginning.
The bodies of the two who were killed, ages 4 and 10, were removed about 1:30 a.m. from the Westwood Fountains complex at 9430 Concourse, Assistant Fire Chief Omero Longoria said this morning.
“We turned the building back to the apartment management,” he said. “Our job there is accomplished.”
A 9-year-old boy is at Texas Children’s Hospital, being treated for injuries including an apparent broken leg.
The three boys were playing in a three-story outdoor stairwell, which Westwood Fountains residents say was corroded and rarely used, when the concrete landings groaned loose and slammed down on the boys about 7:40 p.m.
Residents rushed to free the boys from the rubble, but found most of the debris was too heavy to lift. It took a group of men to lift a slab off the 9-year-old. The other two children remained pinned in the rubble for hours as firefighters waited for a structural engineer to shore up the walls so they could safely remove the bodies. One of the walls had fallen away when the staircase collapsed.
Some neighbors were outraged that firefighters stopped them from going in for the other boys, but Longoria said the instability of the remaining walls made it too risky.
Jaime Cuevar, 33, was among the group who helped free the 9-year-old from the concrete.
“It was big pieces,” Cuevar said. “Some we couldn’t lift.”
The 9-year-old was still screaming when they rushed to his aid. The other two boys were silent.
“When I saw the other little ones, I said, ‘They’re not going to make it,’ ” he said.
Cuevar’s wife, Blanca Rangel, watched from a few feet away and could see the danger the rescuers didn’t: The crumbled slabs were all that kept the walls from falling.
“I was yelling, ‘Don’t move too much debris!’ ” Rangel said. “The walls were wiggling.”
By then, the apartment courtyard had filled with onlookers.
“There were more people who could have gotten hurt,” Cuevar said.
Firefighters evacuated the apartment building, cordoned off the courtyard and waited for the city engineer, homicide detectives and the medical examiner’s staff. The street was blocked with firetrucks and ambulances, and people thronged the apartment grounds.
One firefighter spoke to the mother of the 10-year-old as family members huddled around her. As he spoke in Spanish, she began to cry, and a man standing next to her banged his fist.
“It’s going to take a little while to get them out,” another firefighter said in English. “I’m sorry, but there’s a process we have to go through. We’re doing the best we can.”
The man began to yell and curse.
“I understand you’re upset. I understand you’re angry, but we have to do it safely,” the firefighter said.
Neighbors said they had complained to the manager of the apartments about cracks in the staircases, which led to patios but were not in use. They were supposed to be locked but never were, residents said.
“Them steps have been there forever,” said 21-year-old Sara Lopez. “They’re old. They’re full of holes.”
Lopez’s brother-in-law, 14-year-old Cristian Newbury, was walking past the stairwell when he heard it creak, grind and collapse.
The boys were screaming, he said. He knew them — the apartment complex teems with children who all play together.
“They were calling my name,” Newbury said.
Officials did not identify the children on Wednesday but said they were not related.
The complex was built in 1979 and contains 293 units, according to county records.
A database obtained by the Chronicle shows that the city has not issued any citations for building violations at the complex in the past decade. It was unclear late Wednesday, however, whether the city had ordered code repairs during that period. The property has been owned by RVB Apartments since June 2003.
The city will “absolutely” be investigating the collapse, said Susan McMillian, an executive staff analyst with the Department of Public Works and Engineering.
Neither the owners of the complex nor the attorney representing the group could be reached for comment late Wednesday.