Building Torn Down After Partial Collapse in Meriden

A building has been demolished after a partial building collapse happened on Broad Street in Meriden Wednesday night.

Several crews responded to the building collapse in the area of 529 Broad St. at about 5:30 p.m. Meriden Mayor Kevin Scarpati said the roof of a vacant multi-family home collapsed inward.

The building is two doors down from the fire station, and it was deemed unstable before it was torn down shortly after.

No one was inside the building when the collapse happened. The mayor said the building was under construction.

An NBC Connecticut crew at the scene saw officials demolish the building. The fire chief said crews had to be really sensitive about how the building was taken down because there are occupied buildings on either side.

The building has been unoccupied for awhile, according to the fire chief.

"I know there were crews working around the building, but we have accounted for all of them. And they don’t seem to be hurt at all. So I assume they were outside when this all started to happen," Morgan said.

Residents in the area described what it was like seeing the collapse.

"We were sitting outside and everything fell in," John Colon, whose mother lives next door, said. "Bricks just started falling. And we were like, 'woah, what's that?'"

Colon said he's seen people working at the building before.

"I was definitely concerned for them and the people working inside," he said.

Another resident in the area said she lives with two brothers next door.

"One brother is in a wheelchair, the [other] is in a walker. It's hard to get them out," Catherine Lesiak said. "It was very stressful. I didn't know if I had to get them out."

Crews weren't able to go inside the building because of the unsafe conditions. Drone images above the collapse confirm that the building was pretty heavily damaged.

The cause of the collapse is yet to be determined. The incident is under investigation.