South End building collapse forces evacuations

BOSTON — Part of a vacant building collapsed in the South End late Wednesday night forcing people in neighboring homes to evacuate.

Bricks and a fire escape fell from the building on 23 Upton St. to the ground around 11 p.m. No one was injured, but residents in neighboring buildings were evacuated.

The Boston Fire Department said the building has been vacant for over 20 years and is listed as “structurally deficient.” There is a risk of further collapse, fire officials said, and Boston Inspectional Services have been called to the scene.

Evacuated residents will not be allowed back into their homes until an engineering report is completed and the safety of the structure is assessed.

“There’s definitely a high risk of further collapse,” said Boston Fire Chief Neal Mullane. “We have fire escapes, wrought iron that’s hanging from the trees” and the risk of more brick crumbling, he said.

In a 311 complaint filed online with the city nearly 12 years ago, a person identifying themself as the owner of the property adjacent to 23 Upton St. noted the poor condition: “The gutters and other structural elements (e.g. front staircase) are deteriorated and cause water to pour onto our property during storms and is causing some structural instability to shared walls due to condition of mortar / brick of 23 Upton St. Please have owner perform remediation work. Happy to discuss but this has been years now,” according to the complaint.

It’s unclear if any work was ever performed. The case was closed on Sept. 13, 2012, in the 311 system with a finding of “No Violation Found/No Cause.”

311 complaint on safety of Boston building that collapsed was made in 2012 A neighbor who lived adjacent to the building reported structural damage to shared walls in a 311 complaint, which was later closed with no violation found or no cause.

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