Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Fairfax home collapses, rain likely caused it

FAIRFAX, Calif. (KRON4) -- Fire crews and police were called to Pine Drive in Fairfax around 3:45 a.m. Tuesday morning for a home collapse.

The town’s building inspector says there are concerns about how sound the ground is after rain on Sunday.

“It’s really really scaring, traumatizing,” neighbor Julie Gatty said.

The sound of crashing and sirens woke up those living on Pine Drive.

Fairfax building inspector Mark Lockaby says rain over the weekend may have played a factor.

“We don’t see a lot of water, the water probably did have an impact on it, but it looks like there was some excavation that took place on the site and it looks like the cause of the collapse is due to the excavation,” Lockaby said.

The home that was under construction and was placed on cribbing to lift it and re-place the foundation, according to the Ross Valley Fire Department.

“They dug out the entire basement and had the house on platforms. Looked like they were about to pout the cement for the foundation,” Gatty said.

Julie Gatty moved to Pine Drive four years ago.

After seeing the collapse, she’s worried about how structurally sound other homes are in the area.

“How do we know moving into a house on a hill that the person living above us has a house that won’t collapse and slide down the hill into my kitchen,” she said.

Though the damage to the home is beyond repair, it was not occupied by the owner during construction.

No injuries was one good thing to come out of the report from investigators.

“I did speak to the homeowner and she’s working to get her soils engineer up here,” Lockaby said.

Police have the area of Pine Drive in front of this property closed off while the town’s building inspector investigates.



from KRON4 https://ift.tt/Kecq2QC


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