BROOKLINE, Mass. — The dramatic moment a building under construction collapsed onto an SUV in Brookline on Sunday was caught on camera, with neighborhood residents likening the impact to a recent earthquake that rattled much of New England.
Firefighters said the building at 50 Vernon Street was vacant, so luckily no one was hurt.
“We just heard a really loud boom,” one neighborhood resident recalled, noting that it “sounded similar to actually the earthquake from a few weeks ago.”
“It could have been anybody driving by and anyone would have been killed I mean it’s crazy,” said Elliot Wayne, another resident of the area.
Neighbors said they feel for the family who lost their car, now crushed by bricks and debris, after the top two floors of the building collapsed.
“It’s a family that lives right there, they get in that car every day,” Wayne added.
Fire officials noted that the owner of this SUV had just gotten out of the car and walked back into the house.
“The family was just getting ready to go out, so thankfully anyway I think if it was a weekday it would probably be a different scenario because it’s pretty busy in this area,” Brookline Deputy Fire Chief Kyle McEeacheran said.
The people who live in the back building now can’t drive out of the area as crews work to clean up the mess.
The facade of the building had to be torn down since the rest of it was at risk of falling.
Several neighbors had to be evacuated from the building next door as a precaution and it’s unclear when they can return home.
Fire crews believe the winter weather is partially to blame but the cause of the collapse is still under investigation.
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