ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The construction crane that fell onto a condo building in Feather Sound has been pulled off the building as of Wednesday afternoon.
It took three cranes to get the job done. One large crane was used to lift the crane's extended arm off the building. Two smaller cranes were used to guide the base of the crane to the ground.
After the crane was off the building, an engineer was sent in to check the building's structural integrity.
"We were impressed with the way that the masonry held the crane, so there was no actual structural failure, where the crane had contacted the building," Barry Smith, a structural engineer hired on behalf of the Crystal Bay condo association said. "From a structural standpoint, the building is perfectly intact and capable of normal occupancy."
Pinellas County's Building Inspections Department will have the final say on deeming the building safe or not for residents.
Wednesday morning update:
Adam Bild, the general counsel for the condo association of Crystal Bay, said crews will again attempt to remove the toppled crane from the building at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Two buildings have been fully evacuated.
The crane company offered to cover the costs of a hotel stay for Tuesday night for any resident who wanted it. Bild explained the two cranes that attempted to pull the toppled crane off the building reached their lifting capacity and work had to be paused for the evening.
As of Wednesday morning, there are now four cranes in the Crystal Bay parking lot. Three will be used to reposition the fallen crane upright. It is estimated to take at least an hour to pull the crane off the building.
Once completed, a building inspection will be done to check the building's structural integrity. On Tuesday evening, residents were given a non-mandatory evacuation order by the St. Pete Fire Marshal.
OSHA is expected to investigate the incident. Bild said the best-case scenario is the building inspection goes well and all residents can sleep in their beds tonight. A tarp will be placed over the damaged roof area.
Previous report:
A large crane fell onto a condo building Tuesday morning in Feather Sound during construction work, authorities said.
Adam Bild, the condo association attorney, said there were no injuries in the incident. Both residents and crews were unharmed at the Crystal Bay Condominium complex, located at 2333 Feather Sound Drive.
"A big large bomb," Kimberly Jenkins described the sound when the crane fell into her building. "I want to say I've been through hurricanes and earthquakes. This was something I never heard before."
Jenkins was on a balcony as the crane fell. She said it hit the building three times after wobbling back and forth.
"I went back up to my floor went out on the balcony," Jenkins said. "And that's when I saw this big crane right there. And that's when I heard everybody screaming, 'stop.' And I'm looking at the guys looking backward. Everybody's screaming at them. And it just goes up."
Bild explained two buildings were affected by the fallen crane and one was evacuated for a short time. Residents will again be asked to leave when the crane is removed before being allowed back inside.
Additional equipment was brought in to respond to get the fallen crane off the building, including two additional cranes.
The now-toppled crane was brought in to load materials onto the roof for a roof replacement project. In the building in which the crane fell, there are 170 units. The roofing company, Quality Roofing, subcontracted out the Bayel Crane Company for materials to be loaded up to the roof.
"[The] crane was loading material onto the roof," Bild said. "There's a large roofing project underway, and the crane exceeded its ability to lift and tipped over."
A preliminary inspection showed the fall did not damage the building's structural integrity.
"The beams along the roof where the crane came in contact were inspected, no cracking was observed in their primary beams, and they're going to perform a more thorough inspection once the crane has been removed," Bild said.
Bild said he is unsure if wind played a factor in why this crane crashed into the building.
At the time of this publication, crews are still assessing how to remove the crane from the building.
According to the vice president of Quality Roofing, the roofing company of the condo complex contracted out for the roof repair project, two cranes brought in to remove the crane from the building were not big enough.
On Tuesday evening, residents were allowed back into the building for the evening.
Work is expected to resume in the morning.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.