NYC suspends engineer's inspection authority over ‘catastrophic’ mistake at Bronx building collapse site: officials
MORRIS HEIGHTS, the Bronx (PIX11) – New York City has suspended an engineer’s inspection authority due to a “catastrophic” mistake made earlier this year at the building that partially collapsed in the Bronx this week, city officials said Friday.
The city has suspended a state-licensed engineer’s authority to inspect exterior walls of buildings to assess their condition after the engineer “misdiagnosed a load-bearing column” in the Bronx building as decorative in plans filed with the buildings department in June, according to New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo.
"The engineer failed to recognize a clearly structural column as such, and he can no longer be out there making assessments of the structural integrity of exterior walls of New York’s buildings,” Oddo said in a statement.
The city is also reviewing all of the engineer's recent inspection filings in New York City. Officials are seeking to permanently revoke the engineer's inspection authority.
“...when those who are entrusted to keep us safe cut corners and make catastrophic mistakes, we’re going to take swift action and hold them accountable,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “Our initial investigation into this collapse has made clear that the engineer involved has no business assessing the exterior walls of buildings in New York City, and we’re taking action to suspend his ability to do so.”
City officials said the investigation is still ongoing into the partial collapse of the apartment building at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in Morris Heights. A corner of the seven-story building collapsed Monday afternoon, displacing residents of the building who are now receiving emergency assistance.
Witnesses said they heard cracking noises before the corner of the building collapsed. As the corner units were reduced to rubble, FDNY members frantically searched for potential victims. Fortunately, no one was killed in the collapse.
"We got lucky that no one was killed in this collapse; we will not take that risk again," Oddo said in a statement.
Finn Hoogensen is a digital journalist who has covered local news for more than five years. He has been with PIX11 News since 2022. See more of his work here.