JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Police were still on scene Wednesday at Ascension St Vincent’s hospital in Riverside after a partial collapse of a parking garage yesterday Tuesday afternoon. While no one was injured, it took search and rescue teams most of the day Tuesday to clear the area, and 111 cars remained trapped inside.
Records show that parking garage had not been inspected since 2007, sixteen years ago.
Construction for the garage began in 2005, according to documents from the city's building inspection division. A list shows multiple inspections were completed during construction. In 2007 a certification of occupancy was issued after the garage was found in compliance with state and city codes. This was the last inspection on record for the building.
The parking garage and the two buildings next to it are condemned until a structural engineer can inspect the garage. Officials fear could the garage could collapse further.
After that, there are no requirements for future structural inspection, unless an addition is made that would change the structure, according to Chip Bachara, a Construction Law attorney.
“That work, as it’s going up, is inspected to make sure that everything is being done right and no one is cutting any corner. And you get a final close out on it. At that point, there are no further inspections. You just have to maintain, it’s your building at that point," Chip Bachara, with Bachara Construction Law Group, said.
Bachara has worked on past garage collapse cases in Jacksonville including the Berkman 2 parking garage collapse in 2007 in which one man was killed.
While he’s not involved in this case, he believes that legal responsibility for paying car owners whose vehicles are damaged or who loss transportation depends on what caused the collapse.
“Because there were not any deaths, which is good, and I don’t think there are any personal injuries, I think everything is going to be property damage, I think that there will probably be some lawsuit fighting over who owes what, but it’s all money," Bachara said.
Hospital staff say there is no timeline set as to when people will be able to remove their cars from the garage. In the meantime, Bachara says people who will be paying out of pocket for a rental car or repairs should contact their insurance company.
What happened?
JFRD confirmed at approximately 12:45 p.m. Tuesday that crews were working a partially collapsed garage in the Riverside area. Firefighters from the urban search and rescue, drones and cadaver dogs were used to search the garage but no one was found hurt.
As of now, they say that the collapse was the result of some kind of structural failure and engineers will be brought out to determine the exact cause.
911 1 calls give insight into the panic felt by those at the hospital after the parking garage collapsed.
“I heard the explosion sound and came running out and I heard it and I see it and it is collapsed," audio heard during 911 call.