By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- An 85-foot construction crane toppled onto a passing vehicle in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood Monday morning, setting it on fire and injuring four people.
- The driver escaped the burning car in reverse before self-extricating; two construction workers were trapped inside a storage container the crane fell on, and the crane operator jumped clear as the structure tipped.
- Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said all four were transported with minor injuries; none were killed.
- Technical rescue crews cut through the storage container to free the trapped workers while other crews extinguished the vehicle fire.
- The cause of the collapse, involving a piling rig, remains under investigation by OSHA and Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures personnel.
MIAMI — An 85-foot crane collapsed onto a passing vehicle in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood Monday morning, setting the car on fire and injuring the driver and three construction workers, officials said.
The collapse occurred shortly after 8 a.m. Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia said at a news conference that he was thankful no one was killed. “I’ve been on the fire department for 28 years; when you see the scene, it’s impressive,” Hevia said. “The fact that we had four victims, and they were all able to be extricated or self-extricate themselves with minor injuries is a remarkable day for them.”
A woman driving next to the construction site saw the crane begin to fall and was able to reverse her car and escape as it caught fire, Hevia said. “To be able to see the crane falling, pull the car in reverse and pop out of the back while the car’s on fire, really incredible,” he said. The crane also crushed two unoccupied parked cars and fell on a storage container where two construction workers were inside; the crane operator managed to jump clear as the structure tipped over.
The two trapped workers, the crane operator and the driver were all taken to hospitals with minor injuries; officials have not identified them. “It was a very complex scene with a fire that was occurring; our crews were putting out the fire and our technical rescue team working simultaneously to cut through the conex box, the construction box, and they were able to successfully extricate the two victims,” Hevia said. All other workers at the site were accounted for.
Officials have not determined what caused the crane — specifically a piling rig, a type of crane whose upper structure is designed to drive support columns into the ground — to topple. Hevia said the collapse is under investigation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures personnel responded to the scene. Firefighters remained on site to monitor and contain a fuel spill until a specialized mitigation crew arrived.
