BUFFALO, N.Y. — Crews worked throughout the evening Friday to take down a downtown Buffalo building that partially collapsed earlier in the day.
Buffalo Fire Commissioner William Renaldo told 2 On Your Side that the three-story building at Genesee and Oak streets collapsed just before 11 a.m.
He said there were no injuries. However, fire officials told reporters the building is beyond the point of repair.
"We had to bring in demolition teams because the building is so far gone and structurally unsound. Unfortunately, as much as we try to save these, we were not able to save this one," said Buffalo Fire Division Chief Michael Tuberdyke.
A demolition team was on the scene until around 10 p.m. Friday.
Tuberdyke said once the contractors arrived, the goal was to remove the most dangerous parts of the building first, which were the front wall and sides, to prevent it from collapsing any further.
"Anytime you have a building like this, our main goal is always going to be the safety of everybody that's around it, anybody that might be in it, our own firefighters as well," Tuberdyke said.
He added they also used a high lift to check on the stability of certain areas and confirm that no one was inside.
The division chief added that, eventually, they are going to have to take down the whole building.
After being closed for the majority of the day, at around 10:15 p.m. streets in and around the site of building collapse at Oak and Genesee began to reopen.
Demolition crews are expected to be back on scene Saturday at 7 a.m. to pick up where they left off.
Eamon Riley, Vice President of Legacy Development says they purchased the building at 324 Oak Street last year at the height of the pandemic. He said they were unable to access the necessary resources to rectify the neglect from the previous owner, and that they were working on a stabilization plan at the time of the collapse.
2 On Your Side has confirmed the building at 324 N. Oak Street was previously owned by Bruce Adler. Adler also previously owned a building on Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo that also partially collapsed 2019. That building later had to be demolished.