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* Share Photos & Videos * CBS News New York: Free 24/7 News * CBS New York App * CBSNews.com * First Alert Weather * Links & Numbers * #BetterTogether: Season Of Giving * Book Club with Mary Calvi * CBS+ * News * All News * NY News * NJ News * CT News * LI News * U.S. * World * Health * Business * Entertainment * Politics * Tech * Weather * First Alert Weather * Radars & Maps * CBS2 Weather Map * CBS2 Weather Watchers * First Alert Weather 101 * Share Photos and Videos * Sports * All Sports * Giants * Yankees * Knicks * Rangers * Islanders * CBS Sports Live * Jets * Mets * Nets * Devils * Odds * Video * More * Station Info * WCBS-TV * WLNY-TV * Contact Us * Advertise * Contests & Promotions * Galleries * Links & Numbers * Download Our App * Click here to view related image. * Search * Search Breaking News Bronx building suffers partial collapse; Watch continuing coverage Local News BUILDING PARTIALLY COLLAPSES IN MORRIS HEIGHTS SECTION OF BRONX By Jesse Zanger December 11, 2023 / 10:09 PM EST / CBS New York * * * Apartment building partially collapses in Morris Heights section of the Bronx NEW YORK -- Emergency responders were on the scene of a partial building collapse in the Bronx on Monday evening. The collapse happened around 3:30 p.m. at a seven-story apartment building on West Burnside Avenue and Phelan Place in Morris Heights. CBS New York was told there are six commercial businesses in the buildings and dozens of residential apartments. The building was evacuated. The stability of the building remains in question. Stunning video captured people running for their lives as the building collapsed just feet away. The building superintendent told CBS New York's Lisa Rozner he believes everyone is accounted for, but given the busy nature of this street, it is unclear. Felix Vargas said he was working on a unit when his wife called from their third-floor apartment. "My wife called me. She said the building is moving," Vargas said. "When I go downstairs to check, the bedroom, everything collapsed." The owner of the first-floor bodega says in Spanish he ran out just in time. "We heard a crack and were able to leave. That's when everything came tumbling down," Jason Castillo said. WATCH: OFFICIALS DISCUSS BRONX PARTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSE Mayor Adams, officials discuss Bronx building partial collapse FDNY members were on the scene 1 minute, 36 seconds after the call came in, OEM Commissioner Zach Iscol said. "We immediately vacated evacuated the building and started to concentrate on the debris pile in front of the building -- to search for any victims," FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens said. "We're tunneling in to that debris pile as safely as we can. Firefighters right now are in a dangerous position. We don't know what caused the corner of this building to collapse, and we don't know if any more of it is going to come down. But we're searching for life. That's the main objective at this time." FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh went into further detail on the work her firefighters are doing. "All of our specialized training and resources that we have for an incident like this have gone to work. We have our drone up, surveying the area, seeing if we can find additional information about potential patients and areas of potential instability. We have our K9 unit here, helping us search for potential victims. And we have all of our specially trained firefighters, tactical units, collapse units, and our EMTs and rescue medics who are trained specifically to treat someone in a collapse," Kavanagh said. The FDNY gave the address as 1915 Billingsley Terrace. The portion of the building which collapsed, however, is located on West Burnside Avenue, and the address was initially given as 172 West Burnside Ave. There are several open violations at the building, CBS New York's Tim McNicholas reported. WITNESS DESCRIBES MOMENT OF COLLAPSE A witness described to CBS New York's Alice Gainer what he saw and heard as the corner of the building came down. The man works in a bodega across the street from the collapse site. Witness describes moment of Bronx partial building collapse He said in the three months he's worked at that location, the building has been under construction. "We heard something, like, some people screaming across the street. So we go out to see what's going on. We see this construction stuff start cracking. There was two guys doing some construction up there. We see, like, big rocks start falling down. And then the whole building just fell down in, like, a second," he said. "I think about people that have to go to work tomorrow and children that have to go to school and their lives are disrupted right now," Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said. "This is not new to us in the Bronx and when you look at some buildings and structural integrity and what we do with investment, new roof, new HVAC, making sure our buildings can last for the next 100 years." The residents of 172 West Burnside Ave. still can't believe what they saw ... and felt. "The ground was shaking a lot. It was like an earthquake. I was scared," tenant Angel Soto told CBS New York's Naveen Dhaliwal. Soto was working remotely Monday afternoon when a part of his apartment building came crashing down. "I grabbed the emergency bags that the city gives out, the phones, and the dog," Soto said. When he got outside he saw the unbelievable site. "We were panicking trying to get to the car," Soto said. INTENSE SEARCH OF AREA The FDNY said there have been no reports of injuries thus far, but it is continuing to search the area. The FDNY is using drones and dogs to search the area. "We will presume, with an occupied building, that there could be someone there until we eliminate that possibility," Kavanagh told CBS New York's Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson. "We are doing everything in our power to make sure we can find them if they're there, or to eliminate the possibility." FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh on Bronx building collapse "Given that this is an active building, a building with commercial space and residential space, we're going to presume that their could be someone there, and we're going to operate like there is," Kavanagh said. WHAT CAUSED THE PARTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSE? Kavanagh said there was no immediate word on what caused the collapse, but that will be part of the investigation. All utilities have been shut off at the building. > The FDNY is responding to a partial building collapse of a six-story apartment > building at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Bronx. So far no injuries have > been reported. pic.twitter.com/9FhCSOwbSW > > — FDNY (@FDNY) December 11, 2023 The FDNY, NYPD and Department of Buildings were among the emergency responders at the scene. The Red Cross was assisting residents. Metro-North Hudson Line service was suspended in both directions between Grand Central and Spuyten Duyvil because of the collapse. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The majority of the apartment building is still standing. The corner of the building collapsed, all the way from the roof down to the street. Several rooms within the building are now exposed to the street. The corner of a building 172 West Burnside Avenue collapsed on Dec. 11, 2023. Citizen.com Personal items, such as a hanging shoe organizer loaded with shoes, could be seen from the street below. A bed appeared to be crushed in one of the crushed rooms. A small jacket could be seen hanging on the wall of one of the rooms. The base of the building has a sidewalk shed on it. The shed is now partially surrounded by an extensive pile of rubble. Dozens of families displaced by Bronx partial building collapse Residents of the building were being directed to a service center at P.S. 390, which is nearby. The MTA also brought in four buses to keep residents warm. "Any residents that need a place tonight, please go to P.S. 390. We will have teams there to help find you a place to stay for the duration of this event," Iscol said. In seconds, the collapse displaced more than 30 families, leaving them with so much uncertainty just two weeks before Christmas. "You can't express your feeling because today you have a house, and tomorrow you don't have anything," a tenant named Carlos said. MORE FROM CBS NEWS House explosion in upstate New York leaves 1 dead Kevin McCarthy on Trump: America doesn't want "retribution" U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashes off South Korea, pilot ejects and is rescued Golden Globes announce 2024 nominations. See the full list here. In: * Building Collapse * Bronx * Morris Heights * FDNY Read More First published on December 11, 2023 / 4:06 PM EST © 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Read more MORE FROM CBS NEWS ©2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. 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