BOSTON (WHDH) - Firefighters responded to a scaffolding collapse in Boston’s Back Bay Friday morning.
At around 11 a.m., emergency crews were called to the corner of Beacon and Exeter streets after four stories of scaffolding fell from an apartment building onto the street, according to the Boston Fire Department.
Four people were evacuated from the apartment building.
“They came in and got us, which I’m glad they did, because now we can see a windows broken in our unit so they evacuated us through the basement,” said Claire Warsek, who lives in the apartment building.
Debris crushed two vehicles parked on Beacon Street, officials said, and firefighters made sure that no one was inside either of them.
7News cameras were rolling when another section of the scaffolding collapsed onto Exeter Street, just minutes after the first section on Beacon Street.
“I knew is was windy,” said Dulce Del Cid-Rios, who saw the collapse. “I thought it was just blowing in the wind, but then it collapsed.”
No injuries were reported. No workers were on the scaffolding when it collapsed.
Boston firefighters believe the high winds knocked it down.
“The wrap typically becomes like a sail, like a sailboat, which is gonna catch and needs to be secured,” said Brian Ronan of Boston Inspectional Services about a wrap on the scaffolding.
Sheila Murray, whose car was parked near the collapse at 299 Beacon St., could not get to her vehicle Friday as the street was blocked off.
“That’s my little white car on the corner over there. They won’t let me move it,” she said.
Murray described the moment she heard the collapse.
“I was on the phone with a client and I heard this crash — I thought maybe it was a tree out front or this canopy next door has had wind damage before — and then I looked out the corner and I just saw it all in the street, and it was like, ‘Oh wow,'” Murray said.
Building inspectors say the collapse is under investigation, but warned all contractors to keep an eye on the weather, and especially the wind, to take precautions.
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