Madison Erhardt
UPDATE 3:35 p.m.
The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Center has overturned some of the evacuation orders around the crane crash site in downtown Kelowna.
Rescue workers say the first phase of crane assembly was safely completed.
Thirteen addresses, mostly on Bernard Avenue, have been removed from the evacuation list.
“NS. Paul Street is only open to pedestrians, but all stores on St. Paul St. and Bernard Ave. are open, including The District on Bernard (formerly Towne Center Mall),” CORD said in a statement.
“For those returning home or to work, the power can be out for several days.”
Bernard Ave will remain closed to vehicles on Richter Street and will only be open to pedestrian traffic.
There is still an evacuation order for several addresses closer to the crane collapse site.
A map of the new evacuation zone is below. A list of the addresses concerned can be found here.
Photo: Central Okanagan Emergency Operations
UPDATE: 2:35 pm
Crews have started dismantling the rest of the crane that collapsed in downtown Kelowna on Monday.
Site crews started work this afternoon after the body of a fifth man was recovered from the rubble overnight.
At the moment, the local state of emergency and an evacuation order for apartments near the crane collapse still apply.
“Nothing has changed. We are waiting for the site to hear about it while they dismantle the crane. If we get information from the site, we can change and update it,” said Travis Whiting, Kelowna chief fire officer.
“We’ll likely see an update in the next few hours,” added Whiting.
Rescue workers had announced that they would have to remove the tower of the collapsed crane as this poses a risk of overturning before the evacuation orders in the area can be lifted.
UPDATE 9:55 am
The head of the specialized urban heavy rescue team that recovered the body of a man trapped in the rubble of the crane collapse in downtown Kelowna says the mission was complex.
Vancouver Fire Assistant chief David Boone said the 16-person team arrived in Kelowna around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday and immediately started work to confirm the location of the body.
Boone said Kelowna Fire Rescue gave them “very good information” that they could confirm with their specialized equipment.
“When we confirmed that this was recovery, not a rescue, we were able to take a step back and take a methodological approach that addresses the need to ensure the safety of first responders at all times,” he said.
Boone described the complex scene.
“You are dealing with an unsecured steel structure of the crane, which rocks on a light timber frame construction, and the driver’s cab, which rocks on a partially collapsed floor.”
“How do we move things around without injuring first responders or causing further injury or impact to the victim,” and preserving the scene for investigators, he added.
They removed parts of the steel crane and the driver’s cab with heavy equipment so that they could reach the patient. They found the body around midnight.
“It’s difficult, but we’ll get there. It is always difficult for any first responder to get into something unknown. “
The Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Task Force 1 consists of fire fighters, police officers, paramedics, engineers, search and rescue members, dog hunters, rope rescue specialists, a logistics team and paramedics.
It is one of only six such teams in Canada.
Madison Erhardt
UPDATE 8:36 am
Kelowna RCMP has now confirmed that a fifth body has now been recovered after the fatal crane collapse on Monday.
“The body of the fifth victim of the crane collapse on Monday was recovered last night. It is believed that the Kelowna area man was working in an adjacent building when the crane crashed and buried him under the rubble, ”said Cpl. Jocelyn Nose worthy.
The crews have been working to stabilize the crane and make sure the job site is safe for search parties. Shortly after midnight on July 14th, the Vancouver Fire Department’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team entered the zone and recovered his remains.
“Because of the victim’s privacy, no further information about his or her identity will be released,” says Cpl. Nose worthy
“Everyone involved in this tragic scene worked tirelessly to end the search for victims,” says Insp. Adam MacIntosh of the Kelowna RCMP. “We currently do not believe that anyone else was injured or killed as a result of the collapse of this crane. Our deepest condolences go to the family, friends and employees of those who have been lost here. “
WorkSafeBC, the BC Coroners Service and the Kelowna RCMP are continuing their concurrent investigations into this incident today.
The evacuation order remains in effect while efforts continue to secure and dismantle the crane. Once that is done, a reassessment will be carried out to determine whether it is safe to lift or reduce this order and allow residents and businesses to return, hopefully within the next day.
If you have witnessed this incident, have not spoken to the police or have any information regarding this incident, you are urged to contact the Kelowna RCMP Serious Crime Unit at 250-762-3300. to call
UPDATE 8:05 am
The body of the presumably dead man, who was laid to rubble in the city center after the crane collapsed, was recovered.
Lower mainland media reports that the man’s body was recovered around midnight by a specialist heavy-duty urban rescue team led by Vancouver Fire Rescue Assistant David Boone.
There’s more to come …
ORIGINAL 4 a.m.
The recovery of the body of a presumably dead man trapped in the rubble of the crane collapse in downtown Kelowna begins on day three.
A specialized team of first responders from Vancouver arrived in Kelowna late Tuesday and is expected to get to work immediately.
The team, led by Assistant Director of the Vancouver Fire Department David Boone, consists of firefighters, paramedics, the police and an engineer. It is one of six such teams in the country.
“We are informed by the first responders who were active on site, we are informed by their engineer and the engineer for the crane, and we are creating an incident action plan and preparing the site for work,” Boone said late Tuesday .
“In terms of actual activity of any kind, breaking walls, entering the building, a lot of work has to be done before that happens.”
The alleged dead person was working in a building adjacent to the construction site when the crane crashed. The incident also claimed the lives of four employees at Stemmer Construction, who owns the crane.
RCMP said Tuesday they had hoped to recover the buried body by that afternoon, but that would depend on a technical assessment of the crane’s stability. Central Okanagan Emergency Operations then announced late Tuesday afternoon that the situation was “developing” and that evacuations and closings would continue for at least another day.
Kelowna RCMP Insp. Adam MacIntosh said Tuesday that the remaining parts of the crane were extremely dangerous to first responders during their initial response and that things will remain unstable.
“I think we are very lucky that no other people were killed, no rescuers were injured and we want it to stay that way. We want to make sure it takes that long and we employ engineers to make sure we do it as safely as possible, ”he said.
Another woman who worked in the building next to the site hit by the crane provided photos showing the massive damage to the offices.
Neither the RCMP nor the site’s developer, Mission Group, have said why the crane collapsed Monday morning during the dismantling process. Still images from a Castanet webcam show the crane’s horizontal boom being severely unbalanced before collapsing in a cloud of dust. Here you can find out more about the complex process of dismantling a tower crane.
A Twitter post from Prime Minister Justice Trudeau on Tuesday read: “My heart is in Kelowna today with the families, friends and colleagues of the workers who have lost their lives.”
A candlelight vigil is planned for Friday at 9 p.m. near the site of the crane’s collapse. The aim is to gather as close to the site as possible, say the organizers, but the exact location has yet to be determined.
with files from the Canadian press
Photo: castanets stick
A Castanet camera on ONE Water Street captured these three stills of the crane collapse. The middle frame shows the horizontal boom badly out of balance before folding.
