# 6 injured after explosion at Sunny Isles high-rise



## mark handler (Oct 2, 2015)

6 injured after explosion at Sunny Isles high-rise

Oct 02, 2015

http://www.wsvn.com/story/30172602/police-6-injured-after-explosion-at-sunny-isles-high-rise







SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- Six people have been injured after an explosion at the top of a Sunny Isles Beach building, police said.

According to officials, a gas leak led to the explosion at the Château Beach Residences, located at 174th Street and Collins Avenue, just before noon Friday. "There was an explosion at the top of the building," said Sunny Isles Beach Sgt. Brian Schnell. "We are on scene with Ocean Rescue, assisting them as they need us."

7Skyforce HD captured the aftermath of the blast. Walls on two sides of the building's 34th floor were completely blown out, and debris could be seen inside a rooftop swimming pool.

Cleo Flemming was working inside the building on the 32nd floor when the explosion occurred. "Once he got his stuff, I was in front of the elevator, and he went back to go get something, and that's when the first boom [went off]," he said. Then the second boom came, and the elevator just dropped all the way down. So all you heard was boom, boom, boom, boom, all the way on down."

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene. Original reports were that 34 people were injured, but officials have since reduced the number to six. One of the victims suffered severe burns.

Crews on scene treated one man on a luggage rack and another in the back of an Ocean Rescue truck. One person was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. A male victim was transported to Aventura Hospital.

Among those who heard the blast was Sunny Isles Mayor Bud Scholl. "I happened to be walking down the street from lunch when it occurred, and so I was on the scene within two or three minutes, and I saw debris falling from the building," he said.

Large pieces of concrete that fell from a side wall struck pedestrians at the Monaco high-rise next door. Officials said their main concern Friday evening were two pieces of concrete still dangling from the side of the 34th floor.

Dozens of firefighters organized inside the unfinished luxury condo's unaffected lobby and got into an elevator in full gear only to discover it wasn't working. Starting at the bottom, crews were forced to climb 34 flights of stairs in full gear to reach the blast site. "Crews moved on to searching for other victims," said MDFR spokesperson Michelle Fayed.

Crews provided 7News with video from inside the building shortly after the explosion. In the process of the multi-story rescue, two firefighters were injured.

A firefighter on the scene confirmed that two workers were also trapped in an elevator stuck on the third floor. They were not injured. "Miami-Dade Fire Rescue successfully pulled out two people that were stuck in an elevator without injury," said Fayed. "We made sure that they were taken out very quickly so that no secondary injuries were caused as a result of this initial explosion."

The building has since been vacated. "I walked down the stairs," said Flemming. "I had to. How else was I going to get out?"

Crews then completed a full sweep of the scene. "Our crews have done our primary and secondary searches and have not found any other victims in the building," said Fayed.

One man said he was standing near the building when he heard the explosion, bringing back memories of Sept. 11. "When I turned, I saw [the concrete] was coming down," he said. "I see people coming out [and within] two minutes, police were here. That was crazy."

The beachfront condo was unoccupied, but residents are expected to begin moving in soon. However, officials said, the units are still unsafe. "We're using our urban search and rescue team to help stabilize the two pieces of concrete that are still dangling from the building," said Fayed.

The room were the explosion originated appears to have been a boiler room. As a result of the explosion, cable lines connecting the elevators were damaged, forcing crews to use the stairs to reach the roof.

Crews have since capped the gas leak that led to the explosion.

Crews shut down Collins Avenue between 172nd and 176th streets, backing up traffic all the way to the William Lehman Causeway for hours. Drivers are urged to avoid the area and those veering away from the blocked roadways may either take the Sunny Isles Bridge or the William Lehman Causeway to U.S. 1.

Crews are expected to remain at the scene well into the night. They spoke with the building's developer as well as the head of the construction company, as they all prepared to inspect the explosion site to determine what may have caused the blast and what they need to do to temporarily secure the building. "As of this point, we're leaving it in [Miami-Dade] Fire Rescue's hands to comb through the building, to do their forensic investigation on what actually caused the problem," said Scholl. "When they're done, I've instructed our city manager and our building official to go back through every inch of the construction process of this building to make sure that everything was done appropriately."


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