GLENDALE — Crews have been working nonstop to remove concrete and snow from inside a Bayshore parking ramp that partially collapsed on Thursday.
By Saturday night, crews extracted the remaining debris from inside the structure, but officials say it could be months before the ramp is fixed and operating again.
Assistant Chief Dan Tyk with North Shore Fire and Rescue gave a final safety update on the property this weekend where he estimated the rebuilding process would take some time.
“It’s a process of months to get those concrete slabs to cure and then obviously get those transported, so I don’t think that will be a quick fix you’re going to see in the coming weeks,” said Tyk.
In that update, Chief Tyk also “definitively confirmed” there were no injuries from the collapse.
“The debris and the two vehicles were the two areas we couldn’t definitively, completely see on Thursday,” shared Tyk. “Again, through the security footage, there’s two additional angles that we looked at, that we could pretty confidently say that there was nobody in the area. Today, we can say with confidence there were no injuries related to this incident.”
Assistant Chief Tyk says now that the rubble is cleared, the next step is safely removing the cars trapped in the ramp—something that may take place as soon as this Tuesday.
But how exactly did this damage happen? While the cause is still technically unknown, the fire chief said it was likely caused by heavy snow piled up.
James Hoffman, a former Bayshore contractor who cleaned that very structure for ten years, weighed in to TMJ4.
“The load should be evenly dispersed throughout the entire structure,” said Hoffman. “It should never be piled in one location.”
Hoffman says any contractor taking on a project like this needs to have intimate knowledge with how the building is engineered.
“When we first took this contract on in 2010, we had days of meetings as to what can be done, what can’t be done, engineering firms were here and taught us the specs of what it was, we met with the city of Glendale and DPW, plenty of times to discuss the same thing.”
He says the fault falls on more than one person.
“It’s a joint effort, liability would fall on everybody. You shouldn’t work a public structure that has special requirements without the knowledge of that, and you should also know that your contractor has the ability to perform those.”
As weeks of rebuilding begin the area around the structure will stay closed off for safety.
