Unstable building finally falls in Forestville
By JOEL CUTHBERTArticle Photos
FORESTVILLE - After teetering on the brink of total collapse for the past several months, an apartment building in downtown Forestville came crashing down.
At approximately 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, a small crowd of village residents, public officials and emergency personnel watched as the building, which had been left crumbling bit by bit since May, collapsed onto Main Street and into an alleyway. The building - located at 15 Main Street in the village of Forestville - had been a growing concern for owner Glen Hurrell and village officials since it was initially posted as unsafe four months earlier by Code Enforcement Officer Linda Defries.
The building began showing signs of imminent collapse shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, at which time emergency personnel partitioned off the site for safety purposes. In addition, a section of Main Street in front of the building and neighboring post office was closed to traffic.
Soon after, a wooden support beam on the ground floor gave way, sending a significant portion of the building crashing to the ground.
"At about 4:20 p.m., we received the initial call that the southwest corner of the building had collapsed," Kyle Barthel, third-assistant chief of the Forestville Fire Department, explained following the incident. "Once that had fallen, approximately one hour later, half of the front part had fallen, and at that point we were waiting for demolition crews to arrive."
However, the deteriorating and progressively unsafe condition of the building has been an ongoing issue in the village, with problems beginning months ago and only reaching the breaking point Tuesday, culminating in the collapse.
On May 27, Defries posted the building as an unsafe structure after the west wall nearly collapsed onto the neighboring post office building. Two days later, after an engineering report was completed, the alleyway was cleared of debris, and the necessary improvements were made to secure the building, she issued a certificate of occupancy.
Again on Aug. 14, local and county emergency personnel responded when a large section of the west wall buckled and collapsed into the alleyway. When this occurred, the building was abandoned and the neighboring Tri-County Medical Center was relocated to the Forestville American Legion Post 953.
According to Hurrell previously, the condition of the building was the result of a series of neighboring fires in the early 1900s which weakened the structure. Hurrell also said, despite countless requests for help, he couldn't get any assistance in saving the structure.
As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, crews from S. St. George Enterprises had arrived on scene with the necessary equipment to demolish the remaining structure.
"They're going to attempt to demolish that one-third of the building that hasn't collapsed," Barthel explained.
In addition, he said Stohl Environmental was on location to check for asbestos and monitor air quality before and during demolition.
At the time of the collapse, there was no visible damage caused to any of the neighboring buildings, according to Barthel. However, he said there still are concerns the buildings may have been structurally compromised, though adding officials won't know anything further until the remainder of the building is removed and the debris cleared.
"It's a concern right now for the Tri-County medical office and Brad's Bar & Grill on the far end," Barthel said. "As far as the post office, it's a concern as well."
Although there were no serious injuries suffered during the collapse, Barthel said one fire fighter was taken to the hospital following the second stage of the collapse to be checked out.
"She inhaled a lot of the dust that came out of the building when it collapsed," he explained.
As far as he knew, she was doing all right.
In addition to the Forestville Fire Department, Chautauqua County Fire Police and Emergency Services, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Department, the East Town Dunkirk Fire Department, the West Town Dunkirk Fire Department, and the Sheridan Fire Department were on scene. In addition, the village fire department requested manpower from Silver Creek and Cassadaga.
Comments on this article can be sent to jcuthbert@observertoday.com
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Captain
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09-17-09 8:52 AM
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I'm sorry, but public safety trumps property owner rights. This wasn't some rural building that needed minor repairs, it was in the middle of town, and had major structural damage due to a previous fire. A competent building inspector should've easily spotted the damage and forced the owner to immediately install new support beams or knock it down. The owner must not have been aware of how much damage the fire actually caused, otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted all that time & money on other repairs. Someone could've easily been injured...or worse.
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Watchful
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09-16-09 10:05 PM
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Why was there no mention of who gave the order to raise the whole building ? As a taxpayer I hope this person has the expertise to give such an order and didn’t over step their boundaries . It sounds like there were a lot of conflicting reports . Utter confusion as usual . The officials may have decided to knock the rest of the building down in order to eliminate the headache , rather then honor the rights of the people who owned the other section of the building . While the village didn’t cause the initial problem the Code Enforcement Officer didn’t help the situation by issuing a stop work order . This prevented the one owner of the building from shoring up his part of the building . Thus taking the rights away from the 2nd owner .
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CadeFoster
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09-16-09 5:51 PM
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changeweneed you need to get the real info instead of flapping your uninformed lips. Over 20 thousand was put in time and labor and materials to help save this building.
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BillWestfieldNY
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09-16-09 1:58 PM
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I just hope Westfield Taxpayers don't have to pay for a lawsuit with regards to what the superintendent said and the fact the BOE lead by the great EX-president failed to look into and take action on. Talk about paying for a clean-up, from what I hear I don't think the ex-prez or superintendent will be out of the news for long.
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BillWestfieldNY
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09-16-09 1:53 PM
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Stop worrying about your NAME, you guys have bigger issues then that!
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BillWestfieldNY
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09-16-09 1:52 PM
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p****z, you must be joking, YOUR FIRST COMMENT SAYS "NOW WHO GETS TO PAY FOR THE CLEAN UP?" Your not as smart as you think! You think you can say something dumb and then excuse it, you said WHO GETS TO PAY FOR THE CLEAN UP, YOU EVEN PUT IT IN WRITING, BETTER CHECK WITH A GOOD ATTORNEY ON THAT QUESTION. NOW you claim YOU were worried about someone being hurt, sure AND YOU WERE WORRIED YOU AS A TAXPAYER MIGHT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE CLEANUP. Now maybe you understand how we feel about the Ex - BOE -Pres and the rest of the BOE overtaxing us 3.2 million dollars in the last 4 years. That is not including the toy purchases and inflated travel vouchers the dumb ex-pres signed off on for the Superintendent. Both those guys will go down in history on the WESTFIELD HALL OF SHAME. BY THE WAY, NICE MOUTH AND WORDS, DO YOU KISS YOUR BROTHER WITH THAT MOUTH.
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pmdmaz
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09-16-09 1:40 PM
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Westfield Res...how about you kiss my ZANGHI arse! I was just saying how awful it would have been if someone had gotten hurt! Where did you feel the need to bash me and my family out of my comment?! Get over yourself! What if a member of your family or friend was walking by when that building collapsed? Truthfully you don't deserve a rebuttal but I am so SICK of my family name getting trashed because of Arse-holes like you!
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BillWestfieldNY
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09-16-09 1:37 PM
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WestfieldRes makes a good point, anyone who has read the Observer knows about p****z and her support for her brother the Ex-BOE WACS president who has overtaxed us 3.2 million dollars the last 4 years. She supports overtaxing us and now is crying about the public picking up the tab for a building cleanup. Lets fix the 3.2 million dollar issue first then worry about a $25,000 cleanup? What losers! Knowitall2 whats your point?????
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knowitall2
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09-16-09 1:17 PM
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Stick to stalking, Res.
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WestfieldRes
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09-16-09 8:46 AM
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Errors in thought run in that family
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WestfieldRes
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09-16-09 8:46 AM
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You really can enjoy, laugh at and shake your head regarding p****z comments if you know her past statements about who pays for what. p****z is always defending her brother the past BOE president at Westfield. Remember Westfield School BOE led by her brother the last 4 years overtaxing the Westfield taxpayers 3.2 MILLION DOLLARS. P****Z was ok with that, now her comments are about a building the taxpayers might have to flip the bill for cleanup on. People like p****z are so 2 faced, defend the overtaxing of Westfield residents 3.2 million dollars because family is involved but complain about a house cleanup. WOW can everyone see what is wrong with this world?????
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Captain
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09-16-09 8:41 AM
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"Two days later, after an engineering report was completed...she issued a certificate of occupancy."???? Was this building even inspected? A text book example off gross negligence by Forestville officials if there ever was one...and someone should definitely be fired!
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pmdmaz
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09-16-09 7:40 AM
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Someone could have been seriously hurt! Now who gets to pay for the clean up?!
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changeweneed
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09-16-09 4:50 AM
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This building has shown signs of "imminent collapse" since May. Why was it allowed to remain standing with useless wooden braces? Thank God nobody was seriously hurt. The only thing the owner of the building did was slap some paint on it. The Town of Hanover Code Enforcement Office has yet again failed to do her job.
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