A partial structure collapse at an apartment building in Hialeah Monday morning left dozens of people without a home, and officials say it will be at least three months before they can move back in.
The City of Hialeah Fire Department arrived at the area of Palm Avenue and 23rd Street shortly after 10 a.m.
"It looks like the walkway of the apartment building just gave way, the underneath part, and landed onto the first floor," said Hialeah Fire Department Chief David Rodriguez. "We're very, very lucky that nobody was underneath."
Chief Rodriguez says the apartment building has 15 units, and crews were able to search each unit and clear all residents out safely.
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One resident said he was in his apartment when he heard what he thought was the garage truck, but when he walked outside he found part of his apartment building came crashing down.
No injuries have been reported. Hialeah city officials are now investigating.
“We see hairline fracture,” said Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo. “We see some exposed rebar and we also see some metal work that seemed to be covered up with paint and what have you, things a structural engineer should’ve been able to identify, and it’s our assessment that this isn't something that happened from one day to the next.”
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The building is roughly 60 years old, but according to city documents, a professional engineer said it was safe during the building recertification process in 2018.
NBC 6 pulled the recertification documents for the apartment that listed the engineer as Claudio Jofre. The phone number listed for him is no longer working.
The Florida Board of Professional Engineers said Jofre died in February of 2017, months prior to the signed inspection in 2018.
Further digging found that was not the last time. Miami-Dade County put out a memo in 2021 advising all building officials that this licensed engineer was dead, but plans continued to be submitted under his signature and seal. The memo warned officials to no longer accept any documents signed by Jofre.
“We are going to go ahead and investigate the documents we have on this building and see where this takes us," Bovo said.
NBC 6 shared the findings with the city of Hialeah. At this time it’s unclear who has been using the engineer's information. The current owner purchased the apartment after the 2018 inspection.
It's unknown if the collapse would have happened even with a proper inspection in 2018.
