CHELSEA, Mass. — Fire officials said nine residents were displaced from their three-story home after part of its brick exterior collapsed Sunday night.
A large section of brick above a second-floor window at the Orange Street duplex collapsed, leaving a large pile of debris on the sidewalk below.
Firefighters evacuated everyone inside, and no one was injured.
The displaced residents were sheltered on an MBTA bus, and the Chelsea Fire Department said the building management company has provided them a place to stay.
Building inspectors and the fire department’s drone unit were called to assess the damage amid concerns about additional collapse.
A building engineer is expected to be on site Monday afternoon.
Board-up crews later put up scaffolding and plywood to catch any additional falling bricks.
A neighbor who lives a few doors down from the home at 40 Orange Street said he wasn’t surprised to see the bricks falling because of the conditions inside he has seen before.
“It was going to happen eventually. The place is, uh, inside the building; one of the apartments I was in didn’t look too good, you know, leaking, the showers, the ceiling, stuff falling, so forth,” Stephen Pappalardo explained.
The street was partially closed to traffic but has since reopened.
The incident remains under investigation.
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