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House Collapses on Porter Street
No one was injured, as the house was under renovation. The next-door neighbors were evacuated.
A house at 20 Porter St. collapsed early Feb. 3, 2011 under the weight of heavy snow. No one was injured.
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A vacant Porter Street house under renovation collapsed last night under the weight of heavy snow, leaving only the facade standing.
No one was injured, but the Fire Department evacuated neighbors from the house next door, said spokesman Steve MacDonald. They are staying with friends and family.
Firefighters were called at 1:37 am and soon determined no one was living there.
Ongoing concerns as of Thursday morning included the gas lines into the wrecked house. Utility crews were digging up the street to get to the lines to turn them off, MacDonald said. He said the street would likely be closed all day.
The city's Inspectional Services Department is on scene. The front of the building will likely be torn down, MacDonald said.
Roofs have been buckling all over Massachusetts as a result of the heavy snow fall. MacDonald said flat roofs are in the most danger, though he cautioned home and business owners to get professionals to do the clearing because of hazards like hidden skylights and inability to tell where the roof edge is.
According to scanner traffic, the Fire Department is monitoring a nearby building at Germania and Brookside that looks like it may also come down.
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Karla Vallance
9:43 am on Thursday, February 3, 2011
So good to hear that, BJ Ray.
John S.
5:15 pm on Thursday, February 3, 2011
I was very relieved to hear no one was living in it (yet). The place was a dump. The collapse is probably blessing in disguise. The house was clad in vinyl siding and my guess is that it was rotten to the core. It looked like it from where I was observing from behind the yellow tape. Wood can't breathe through the plastic siding, it never dries out, and the timbers of the house rot away over the years, unbeknownst to its owners. Another object lesson on the evils of old-school vinyl siding. Incidentally, they are tearing the whole building down as I write this.