2 Pittsburgh firefighters join search teams at Surfside collapse; North Side nonprofit starts fund for victims

Two Pittsburgh fire officials traveled to Surfside, Fla. on Thursday to join hundreds of first responders in the search for possible survivors of the 12-story building collapse that has killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing.

A captain and a lieutenant of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire have been assigned the roles of “rescue specialists” as part of the search effort’s Ohio Task Force 1, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz. The two local officials have asked not to be identified, Cruz said.

Hundreds of search-and-rescue personnel have painstakingly searched the pancaked rubble for potential signs of life, but no one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse last week.

Rescue efforts at the site of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers condominium building resumed Thursday evening, about 15 hours after the work was halted out of concern about the stability of the remaining structure. Rescuers were pulled off the pile of rubble shortly after 2 a.m. after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.

Pittsburgh foundation starts Surfside relief fund

Meanwhile, the North Side-based Brother’s Brother Foundation has begun a fundraising campaign in partnership with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation — where Josh Sayles, formerly of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, serves as director of Jewish community relations.

A specific target amount has not been set, but the foundation and its partners have pledged to pick up the tab of any overhead costs so that 100% of any money donated to the Surfside fund goes directly to help those affected. Online donations can be made at BrothersBrother.org.

“Our staff has prioritized working on this,” said Liam Carstens, vice president of programs for Brother’s Brother Foundation. “We’re just going to raise as much as we possibly can.”

The foundation provides medical and disaster relief supplies in the United States and abroad, from sending water bottles to Texans who lost power during February’s severe winter storms to getting PPE to health systems and nursing homes to thwart the spread of covid-19. Staffers reached out to nonprofit partners and responders on the ground in Florida to identify the most pressing needs, and learned that money would be most beneficial to victims and their families displaced by the tragedy.

“Right now, we are focusing on the fundraising,” Carstens said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and, if the needs change, we are prepared to send needed items.”

Biden: Cause of collapse still under investigation

The rescue operations resumed on the same day that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the devastated community.

“You know what’s good about this?” Biden said during his visit. “It lets the nation know we can cooperate. That’s really important.”

Earlier in the day, the White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed 60 staff members and an additional 400 personnel across five search and rescue teams at the request of local officials. FEMA also awarded $20 million to the state’s Division of Emergency Management to help deal with unexpected emergency measures surrounding the collapse.

Acknowledging that “the waiting is unbearable” for loved ones, Biden met first responders who have worked around the clock on a rescue effort that has stretched into its second week in oppressive heat and humidity and frequent summer storms.

“What you’re doing here is incredible, having to deal with the uncertainty,” said Biden, as he offered profuse thanks to those who have been working at the site.

Biden said the cause of the sudden collapse remained under investigation. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which sent a team of scientists and engineers to the site, launched an investigation.

A 2018 engineering report found that the building’s ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed extensive repairs, the Associated Press reports. The document also found “abundant cracking” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.

Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had “gotten significantly worse” and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed.