At least 1 dead in Brooklyn building collapse

what is happening right now as members from the FDNY work through that rubble to try to have a rescue operation. Again, at least one person killed, 10 others injured, two critically. That's the latest at this time. We want to get you right to the coverage from Fox 5 New York that is, of course, closely monitoring this breaking news situation. Let's go ahead and and listening to their coverage live. This is just supporting by taking the buckets, and you can see somebody just removed a piece of metal and everything like that, just slowly taking this. Piece by piece, but the real intense part is something in that hole, and there's a firefighter down there because buckets are coming out from there, so, you know. Yeah, it seemed at one point that they might have, like, they were close to finding someone, and then they've, it seems to have moved to where they're taking some of the buckets out now. Yeah, it looks that way, you know. There's a lot of debris at times could be small and sandy where crushed concrete came and that's what they're trying to get out now and maybe just a little bit of the victim is exposed and they're trying to reach him as fast as possible but you have to go slow. Oh, even... Even when it's the condition that they have a lot of people in there and they have to worry about any kind of moving it. But it looks pretty stable. There hasn't been any kind of moving at all. It looks like even there's a floor there that's next to that. Uh... Looks like some kind of digging equipment there, the yellow digging equipment. Thank you. That's a floor there. That's the floorboards and everything, you know. And that looks like it's stable, even though there's people underneath it. They got a whole bunch of PD on top of that. Maybe that was the fence. You know, when you talk about these different lots, I know, you know, depending on where you are in the city, like in lower Manhattan down by One World Trade Center, that's just like a lot of debris that they sort of repurposed to make into ground soil. Whereas, you know, if you're up in Manhattan, different parts, you've got really firm bedrock. Do you have any sort of sense of. What the lots are like in this part of Brooklyn and Flatbush, are they sandy, are they sturdy, are they strong? We want to know about that. They're not sandy, what do you call it, in that part of Brooklyn. Maybe you get towards, you know, the Coney Island and stuff like that, you're going to get sandy. This is a sturdy community that's been going around for years, Bedford and Flatbush Avenue, that's a big hub of what do you call it, Brooklyn. You know, it's just the fact that they worked on a building next door, something got, some support got loose, and a little bit came down, and before you know it, the whole thing comes down. And now they just have to get into the spot where somebody might be, hopefully. But something's there because I don't know why it's spending too much time in one individual spot. There's something there. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Jim, one of our reporters on the scene there was talking to someone who lived in the neighborhood and said, you know, when they go by that lot, it seemed to always have some kind of construction. It was a furniture store before then that got torn down. Does that have anything to do with the structural integrity or is that separate? I think that, you know, the lot is where they were working and then is the building that was there. Maybe the building was vacant, but it was still a structural building. Uh, this morning before the aerial has started, you know, you could see where, uh, that one 59 that rigged it right below that tower ladder. That was a, that was a building that was fully intact this morning. And then it came down. It might not have been, uh, uh, occupied. We don't know. And then you can see, look further. You could actually see the party wall between the two buildings. You could see it goes up into a curve up to the upper left. That is a brick cinder block that is separating the two buildings, a party wall, shared by both buildings. Yeah, Jim, we're going to take a quick break right now. Teresa Priolo, who's on the ground at the scene, has Jumaane Williams standing by. We're going to try to get an update from her and him right now. Thank you, Teresa. Yeah, hi, Steve and Natasha. Yes, I have the public advocate right behind me. He was just passing by actually looking for family members who might be connected to not only the incident, but also the residential building. So let me bring him in. Thank you for being with us tonight. We appreciate it. First of all, give us the latest information that you have as it relates to this. Very tough, I'm just speaking to a gentleman who's looking for his pregnant wife and we're trying to find out if she's in the hospital or she's possibly behind us and we're praying for miracles. I saw a baby girl just come out a little while ago, a toddler, thankfully I heard that she's breathing. They pulled out this way so we assume that she was in a residential building but I can't imagine if you're sitting at home. And on a day off, when your wall just collapses and you fall out of it, it's a very horrific sight, and it's a tough time for the community. All the local elected officials are here. We did some prayers with the community as well. But it's a really, really tough time. I mean, I'm glad to see the coordination of OEM, NYPD, FDNY, who are all out here. Very technical rescue. We're asking New Yorkers to just continue to pray for the folks who may still be here. It's a tough night. We are hearing that 10 people... People are injured too critically, one person deceased. Are those the numbers that you have at this time? I don't want to confirm anything until they give official numbers, but I'm very concerned and disheartened about what I've heard, and so we're continuing to ask for prayers and for some miracles. What is the city telling you about the active search that is going on as it relates to the actual scene where one of the residents was just telling us this used to be a furniture store at one point, and they were actively working on it. to develop this. We understand permits have been pulled for what potentially would be a multi-story, 40-story building. Yeah, there was, I think there used to be a daycare as well. They had a furniture store. There's a lot of things that happened here. And the local electeds have been saying that they had concerns about this site for some time. And my hope is that there was no construction company trying to skirt a couple dollars. I don't know, so I don't want to speak out of turn. But if that was the case, obviously there's going to be some hell to pay. But we do know we have to be more careful when we do. I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a father, he's looking for his pregnant wife, it's a It's a tough time. Just to clarify, the toddler that you saw come out, was that child pulled out by first responders? The child was pulled out by first responders, and I was told that she was breathing, so I was very happy to hear that. But obviously did not look in the best shape. Thank you. Is it your understanding what hospital or will it be a couple of area hospitals that the critically injured will go to? Yeah, I believe there's a couple of hospitals that will be in, but, again, I don't want to speak out of turn until they have. So, look forward to that. Wait for me, if you can, the next couple of minutes and hours as far as the scene is concerned. What's next? My hope is there's some miraculous rescues that we'll hear about from folks who may still be in the rubble. I hope there's miraculous recoveries for people who may be in the hospitals and injured. And I'm hoping that we find out what happened here was not due to negligence or people just trying not to spend some money. Is it your understanding that those who may be injured may only be residents of the building or may they also be workers who are working on the site or is it a little bit of both? That's wonderful. I'm not sure. I think it's probably a mixture of both. I know there was a lot of workers who were taken out. Thankfully, the majority of them seem to be okay. But, you know, I think when you see a toddler come out, you can assume that that was not a worker and that gentleman was looking for his wife. I'm hoping that maybe she wasn't home. Maybe she was out running errands, but it's tough. Yeah, especially considering, as you said, so many people were home today because it's Veterans Day. That's right, that's right. I mean, you're home relaxing on your day off. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. All right. So just to recap, excuse me. So sorry, sir. Just to recap, as you can probably understand, guys, it's very chaotic here. There are, of course, not only media here, but also there are so many residents in the area jockeying to attempt to get any amount of information that they can, not only from the NYPD officers and FDNY who are here, but as you can probably see behind me also from our elected leaders, everybody is looking for information. A couple of other things that I can tell you from From talking to residents here on scene, they say they did They did not hear anything. They didn't see anything. A lot of people were hearing the sirens in the area, and so they would assume that the sirens would just keep going, but when everything stopped here, that's sort of what drew everybody out. They realized that the activity was centered in this area, and so that's why you're seeing the crowds that you are. By the numbers, just to recap for our viewers, first 911 call came in around 4 o'clock. We are hearing 10 people injured, two people critically. I heard that from the public advocate, and we are hearing at least one individual deceased. But as you were seeing from Sky Fox HD just a short time ago, they are actively working to remove people from the rubble here. And we do hope that they are able to find those people alive. So an incredibly active scene, and it will continue to be so for the next few hours. That's what we have here in Flatbush, Brooklyn. I'll send thanks back to you guys in the studio. Yeah, Theresa, we appreciate that. I think we got a lot of new information from the public advocate, Jumaane Williams. He used to be a city councilor, of course, in that area. part of Brooklyn that was in his territory back in the day. So he knows a lot of people there on the ground. He mentioned there had been concerns about this job site. He mentioned he saw a baby being carried out. That was new information. We saw, he saw another man looking for his wife unclear where she is. Maybe she just was somewhere else, but you know, certainly a lot of uncertainty on the site there because it's Veterans Day. So a lot of people are at home. And I think what's most concerning if they pulled a baby out of the rubble there was that should that building that Thank you. Ten injured, one person dead, and you also saw a lot of workers taken out of the scene. So this has been a very active work site for a long time. And as you mentioned, Veterans Day, this is a public school holiday. The kids are off from school, so that's just another element to keep in the back of your mind as we look at the damage to that building. Right to the left of what we're looking into an apartment building, the building to the left of that just toppled into a construction site. And again, this all just happened less than two and a half hours ago. First 911 call right at four o'clock. And we are right in the thick of the rescue effort as they continue to try to find and get anybody else who may still be trapped. Out of that rubble and debris and get them the medical help that they need. Yeah, and as you can see right now, it is a race against time. Two and a half hours and someone might still be trapped underneath all of that rubble. This is... This is an entire three-story building that collapsed, right? And that's where they're standing on top of, and that's what they're trying to pull someone out, listen to any voices if they can. And we've been seeing this kind of bucket brigade where they're taking pieces of it and moving it down the chain. And they have to be so careful because if they move one piece, it affects others. This is still... Pretty unstable. It's a delicate situation, so they've got to maneuver this very methodically. We've been hearing these words all throughout the search and rescue efforts tonight, but it looks like they're all concentrated on this part where the collapse happened. And might be... I'm trying to see if they can find anyone there, but they've been working at it for the last two and a half hours. Yeah, it's been active, no doubt. And it looks like I'm not seeing even a drone for the first time. Sort of the upper left part of your screen, that light seems to be flying around. So we've mentioned they've got sonar, they've got dogs, that drone just flew off. They've got a ton of lights, they've got all these highly trained firefighters. And they've got the ladder, too, the tower ladder. The tower ladders, you know, they've got the whole... Everybody is there converging on the scene with a lot of specialized training. They have been prepared for situations just like this, which do unfortunately happen from time to time. A lot of construction in this city, a lot of old buildings, lots of wild cards can happen when you're doing these big construction projects. We just heard from the public advocate. So, you know, this this site has been, I guess, a particular cause of concern among some. This work has been going on for a while there. I guess there's been some questions raised about it. Yeah, want to stick with this shot here. Here because they might be close to pulling someone out they've been working at this particular spot for some time at one point in this coverage they turned on the lights so they could really light up this entire area and what they've been doing and so. That's what we're looking at right now. It's a void, right? That's the void that they've been trying to, as you can see in the top right corner, they're throwing stuff out and focusing on that void area to see if they can pull somebody out. Yeah, it's like a 45-degree triangle from where the building next door fell into this construction site. There is some area below where there appear to be people trapped. We have seen them, as you mentioned, sort of cutting through that wall by hand, removing buckets of debris, sand, bricks, whatever. It is trying to get presumably to someone who is down there and we still don't know. Again, you know, we just heard from Giovanni that there was a baby carried out by first responders. So that leads us to believe maybe that building that collapsed was not empty at the time of the collapse. You know, just it was it looks like it was a three story building, ground floor retail and two apartments up top. But certainly a delicate operation. He also mentioned in addition to the 10 hurt and one person who was killed, he saw a lot of other construction workers removed from the scene. So this was a very active construction site for sure. And there's got to be just a window, a window time frame. The first responders have, again, two and a half hours of someone being trapped under that rubble. And it is a lot of it that they have been cutting out that we've been seeing. At some point, there was also smoke. That we saw around 5 o'clock, that's since gone away, but it is still just so active and they are, we've been talking about the energy, they've just been working at it for the last couple of hours. I wonder if we have, do we have Dan Rice up in the chopper? Love to talk to him, Dan. What are you seeing right now? Because it looks like they could be close to pulling someone out of this rubble. They've been at this spot for some time. What are you seeing? It... it does appear that way we've seen that backboard the red backboard going back and forth and just by the position of the firefighters it feels to me as if they may have gotten somebody out of that uh area they've been concentrated on because look how they've shifted away from the uh from the plywood and over towards the center of your video now almost like an oval around a certain area over there so hopefully that's a good sign that they did get somebody out of that uh area there and And getting them the help they need, putting them on the backboard. And while that's been going on, look below where those firefighters are. And we see the bucket brigade going on. Not clear if this is just part of the process of when they work a scene like this or what they're looking at down there, but they're shifted. Some of the focus down below where this is. And again, we're hoping that we're going to see a backboard being moved here. As a matter of fact, they are moving somebody there. Hey, Frank, can we move the chopper a little bit to the right, please, if you don't mind? to pinpoint the section that she was in and worked so... All right, yes, we did see some video pop up somewhere of someone being removed via backboard. It looked like, you know, either someone who lived in the building, it was an adult male, possibly either a construction worker or someone who happened to be in the building right now. But that was some dramatic video. I'm not sure where that came from. Dramatic video trapped under that rubble for two and a half hours. One person has been confirmed dead, multiple people injured, and then we just saw someone being pulled out of that rubble there too. I think we've got Sharon on the line. Sharon, are you learning any new information on what we just saw? Audible gasps in our newsroom when they saw those images on another network of someone being pulled from the rubble. We'll, of course, update you as soon as we can about that. But we've been reaching out to the Department of Buildings to find out if there are any violations on this construction site. So far, we've only heard one violation in April, but that matter was resolved. Here are some renderings of what was going to be built on that site, which apparently still is going to be built if this gets resolved. A grocery store. It's a mixed-use building. Nine stories tall grocery stores you can see in the bottom and then apartments were what is expected to be built on top of the businesses, the grocery store and other businesses on the first level there, right next to those other buildings. And we had a Google image earlier that showed what collapsed into the construction site. At first, we thought it was an entire building. And now it appears to have just been a facade, a wall that fell into the site there. What's so astounding to me. of course, is these images here really brings it home to people. You can see people's clothing, their closet, their belongings, their bed in the wall that was ripped off a building that people were living in. So it's that's what really drives it home. But we did reach out, as I said, to the Department of Buildings. Their inspectors are on scene. They vowing to update us as soon as they have more information. But of course, the emergency response that's going on right now, Taking everyone's attention and we have seen dogs. And Steve, you're right. There are drones out there as well with the FDNY trying to execute what appears to be a rescue mission here. We also heard, as you heard Teresa Priola reporting and some other people saying, they did see a young child be pulled out. We heard that from Jumaane Williams, the public advocate there. And you can see that this is still an active scene. All this unfolding, just to recap to our audience, at 4 o'clock this afternoon when there was still daylight out. Still an effort, which is so much more helpful than it is right now. Lights have been brought in, as you can see, by the NYPD and the Special Forces Unit. We've seen them out there as well. And just an enormous response. And we've also heard them using the bullhorn to try to push the media back away from here. We also saw very upset people running toward the scene there. We heard reports of people concerned that their own loved ones might be in the rubble there. But we're not getting any confirmation. from the FDNY or NYPD about that. We just see them in a frantic search to try to bring people out. And we've seen them bring those boards in as well, those backboards to stabilize people as they pull them out of there. We've also seen them, literally it looks like brick by brick. There are buckets and they're handing one firefighter to another a bucket and those buckets are filled with individual bricks. So you can imagine how delicate this procedure is and how fragile it is as they try to try to bring people out if there are any still trapped in there.