Residents Forced to Leave House Where Porch Collapsed

The residents of a three-family home where a porch collapsed last night will have to live somewhere else until repairs are done.

That's the word from the city's Inspectional Services Department, which issued an order to vacate the building at 3 Nira Ave. According to Boston paramedics, 16 people were taken to hospitals last night because of injuries sustained in the collapse.

The home is owned by Imtiaz Ali of Minnesota, though he was in Boston last night and came to the scene, according to an Inspectional Services report. It is Ali's responsibility to make sure the seven tenants of the building have places to stay until he makes repairs, according to Lisa Timberlake of the Inspectional Services Department.

Three tenants are staying with friends, one was out of town and three others were in the hospital, according to a building inspector's report.

The building can't be used because it lacks two separate exits now that the back porches aren't usable. In the event of emergencies like fires, city code requires buildings to have two ways out.

Inspectional Services is having the owner hire an architect or engineer to study the collapse and make plans for new porches, Timberlake said.

Fire officials said a second floor porch collapsed into the first floor porch during a barbecue. As required by city rules, the grills were on the ground, not the porches, said Steve MacDonald of the Fire Department.

MacDonald said porch safety boils down to common sense.

"Most people should have a pretty good sense of when something is overcrowded," he said.

The city has called a building condemnation hearing for June 28 at 10 a.m. at Inspectional Services' offices at 1010 Mass Ave.