A Brooklyn man scavenging for scrap materials inside an empty building ended up in critical condition Tuesday when the structure collapsed and he became trapped in the rubble, authorities said.
First responders arrived at the East Flatbush site around 12:35 p.m. to find the man surrounded up to his waist in debris.
“We [had] to dig everything out around him right down to his feet and his shoes,” said FDNY Chief of Special Operations John Esposito.
“It was a tunneling operation. They were digging from both sides to access him. In the meantime, the wall on the side street was in danger of collapse.”
“Certainly if there wasn’t life to save we would not have been in there.”
The man, who police sources said is 33, was initially thought to be a hardhat, but it turned out he was on the first floor of the gutted vacant building at 463 Rutland Road to hunt for scraps, a city Buildings Department rep said.
As the man remained trapped for an hour and a half, medical personnel was able to monitor his vital signs. After he was dug out, he was taken to Kings County Hospital in critical but non-life threatening condition, said EMS Division Three Commander Stacy Scanlon.
The building has 19 active violations with the DOB, including two violations that were issued this year, the agency rep said.
On Feb. 12, the department filed an emergency order for the property owner to demolish the structure out of concern that it was a hazard to the public, but the associated permits had not yet been issued, the spokesperson added.
The DOB said it has issued three enforcement actions against the property’s owner, including violations for work without a permit for removal of sections of the building, failure to maintain the building in a code compliant manner and failure to safeguard workers and property.