Eight Unit Building Vacated After Upper Back Porch Collapsed Injuring Two

Department of Neighborhood Services boarded up the building after a back cement porch on the fourth floor collapsed causing two lower porches to also collapse all the way to the ground floor.

By H. Nelson Goodson

September 20, 2013

Milwaukee, WI - A southside eight apartment unit at the 2400 block of W. National Ave. on the southwest corner was vacated and boarded up after a 42-year-old Spanish speaking repairman just after 4:00 p.m. fell through multiple back porch cement sections. The injured repairman man was doing some repairs on the fourth floor porch when the cement floor collapsed and went through the other floors below him ending on the ground level.

A 14-year-old girl who was taking out trash and was returning inside with a friend got crushed by some falling debris. The friend was not injured. 

Both the repairman and girl were reported with none serious injuries and were taken to Froedtert Hospital for treatment, according to police.
The City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services has vacated, closed and boarded up the eight unit building and has temperarily condemned the building. Several dozen residents were being helped by the Red Cross with a temperary place to stay.

No word, when the tenants can go back into the building and remove their belongings, if it is condemn. 

No record of current repair permits have been confirmed, according to city officials. The repairman might have been doing some repair work without city permits.

Inspectors have gone through the building to see, if it was safe to let people back in to the building.

The aging building had at least 40 building code violations in the last five years and had also received an order to fix several back porch stairwell metal columns, according to city records.

Photo: HNG/HNNUSA