New York building at risk of collapse: Full Zohran Mamdani press conference after evacuations in NYC

[0:01] Good afternoon, everyone. Around 8 a.m. this morning, FDNY received reports of a structural issue at an active construction site on East 42nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. This is an existing 37-story building with active permits to convert it from a commercial office building to a residential building. First responders from FDNY, NISOM, and the Department of Buildings responded to the call immediately and found structural [0:33] issues on the 21st floor. Two structural columns have buckled in addition to multiple cracks and sagging floors. The building remains unstable. Since arriving on scene, we have witnessed additional movement in one of the compromised columns. First responders and structural engineers are working closely with the project engineer to develop plans to shore up the impacted floor. If the floor is deemed to be secure, engineers will enter and begin shoring up the building. [1:04] As we await the arrivals of materials that will stabilize the building, DOB engineers have been investigating with FDNY drones. This is an extremely serious situation, and I am thankful to our first responders for quickly arriving at the site and to New Yorkers for reacting calmly and with urgency. [1:23] I am grateful to report that there have been no injuries at this time and that every worker has been accounted for. The NYPD has instituted a frozen zone from 40th to 45th streets between 1st and 3rd Avenues. These streets have been temporarily closed off to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The NYPD is also deploying additional officers to ensure that the area remains secure. I want to encourage New Yorkers to avoid the area until it has been deemed safe to re-enter. As we work [1:54] to secure this building and ensure that New Yorkers are safe, I want to encourage New Yorkers to also continue to follow the instructions of those who are on the ground. [2:01] Now, I want to thank the many government agencies who have worked closely with one another this morning to protect the people of the city. FDNY coordinated with NYSA. NYPD officers are keeping traffic moving and helping to keep New Yorkers out of the frozen zones. DOB inspectors and engineers are managing an incredibly complex situation. On behalf of New York City, thank you. Now, I will pass the [2:24] over to our Fire Commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore. Good afternoon. At 7.57 this morning, the FDNY received a 911 call for 235 East 42nd Street. The report was for bricks falling from the upper floors. Our units arrived very quickly and did an assessment. At this moment, we have 150 fire and EMS personnel on scene, over 50 units. Upon arrival, there was an assessment done and the building was determined [3:00] to be unstable. So we started evacuations of the building and the surrounding areas, establishing a collapse zone. I'm going to turn this over to Chief of Department John Esposito to talk a little bit more about the actual operations here. Good afternoon. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So when we arrived on the scene to the reports of buildings, bricks falling from the building, [3:33] and we had to go to the building and we had to move on to the building. We were in contact with the construction crews. We were in touch with the construction crews. All workers were accounted for. There were no injuries. It's a very serious situation. The box beams, the steel beams have started to bend and deflect from the way we evacuated the building and started evacuations of surrounding buildings, and the building has continued to move since we've been on the scene. [4:05] We're working with the building's department and working with the building engineer to make sure that this is safe for our people and for all New Yorkers. I'm going to turn it over now to the Department of Buildings Commissioner. Hello, everyone. Much of the initial information, the setting, has been already shared by the mayor and my colleagues. We have seen both buckling and floor conditions that are impaired on the 21st floor. [4:40] We're working with the construction and construction safety engineers on site, evaluating from the street and vantage points set up across the street and to the west so we can monitor movement of the building and the floors to understand what's happening on a continuous basis. Once we can determine that it's safe to enter the building, we will then, in concert with the contractors, ownership, and with consultation with FDNY, be able to deploy a plan to shore up that floor and then [5:10] continue to continue to continue to continue to continue to investigate further for any other weak points that needs further further help and shoring. After that point, we will be able to investigate further if there's anything else that we need to do scoping out from that area. The work of FDNY, I want to thank OEM FDNY for the work they're doing to create the perimeter and the safety zone. We encourage everyone to please heed our asks not to come to the area and right now the safety of the public is our top priority. [5:40] Once we'll have, once we have more, we'll make sure to share that information. [5:44] Okay, we have time for just a few questions and please speak up. We're going to start with Andrew Sim from NBC. Please speak up. [5:51] So, we have specialized tools that we can watch the building from and see movement even in centimeters or fractions of an inch. And since we arrived on the scene and put that in place, we have seen continual movement. [6:27] It does mean that it is not yet stable. It is still a very serious and dangerous situation. [6:33] I think this is a minute by minute assessment and I'm thankful for the work of all of our city workers and doing exactly that from the morning through this moment and then through the rest of the day. And as you heard from our DOB commissioner, the number one focus here is the safety of New Yorkers. [6:57] New Yorkers. We're thankful that at this time there are no injuries. Every worker is accounted for. And now we are continuing to assess as soon as this building is stable, it then opens up the possibilities for us to shore up the building. But until that point, we are still having to measure that. I know our DOB commissioner wanted to add a few details. [7:15] Yeah. As an example of how information changes over time, the initial report that came in was about bricks falling off the building. When arriving, we did not see evidence of that. So we're not seeing things come off. The compromise point, as you mentioned, is something that we're monitoring and looking at. The chief, especially FDNY's drone unit, has been integral to watching and seeing how that movement happens. And so right now you have both DOB staff, you have the contractors, [7:44] with beams that are tracking that. And what we are focused on and what we feel like the next step is, is making sure we can get into that 21st floor to add additional emergency trusses to spread that load and be able to move on with the investigation. [8:00] Thank you. We're going to go to Gloria Pasbino from CNN. [8:04] The buckling of the beams that was recorded. Can we get some clarity on how many floors there actually are? Because I think there's such confusion because of that. [8:23] So I will just add a few words before passing it over to my deputy mayor for housing to share on that. When it comes to what this building is, as you said, [8:35] this is a commercial office building that is being renovated into a residential building. And as part of the renovations is what we have seen here today. I'll pass it over. [8:48] We'll have the DOB. Yeah, we'll DOB commissioner come on. [8:51] So if I understood the question, this is a building that was going through an office residential conversion. [8:57] It went through plan review and has gone through an extensive, exhaustive review with DOB over the last two years. [9:04] What is happening now is an investigation of what is the cause of why the undermining happened. [9:11] And so once we have that information, we'll be able to share. But as the mayor said, it's a conversion of an office building into a residential property. [9:21] And with that comes certain code changes and structural requirements, all of which have gone through a plan review. [9:27] And now we're examining what happened now and we'll check it against the reviews, the plans were approved. [9:32] Oh, sorry, that was the question. [9:34] How many floors? [9:35] So the existing, it's 37 floors with an addition of 11 floors above 22 floor elements. [9:44] So 22 floors on one piece, 37 on the taller part of the building. [9:49] And they were adding 11 floors above the 22 floors. [9:53] And how many floors? [9:54] So right now there are 37 floors and they have topped out on the extension as well. [9:59] So the extension has been built out and they have topped out on that part as well. [10:03] All right, thank you. We're going to take two more. [10:05] We're going to go to Aaron from ABC News. Go ahead. [10:08] Yes, sir. [10:10] The concern is that since we have been on site in the early morning, we have seen continued shift of the structure. [10:31] And I'm going to pass it over to our chief of department to add a little more detail. [10:37] The way this building is constructed, it's a steel frame building. [10:40] So it would not be a total collapse. [10:43] It would be more of a localized collapse. [10:45] But that remains our concern that it's moving. [10:51] Possibly. [10:59] We're going to go to jail from New York. [11:04] Why don't you just speak up? [11:05] Hi, Mayor. Thank you. [11:06] If you or some of the folks are trying to tell us a little bit about how do you shore up this building right now? [11:11] How do you get this in a condition that makes it safe even for people to be on the street, [11:15] let alone inside the buildings next door or the building at a shift? [11:18] So I'll first just start with the importance of safety at this time. [11:22] We have evacuated not only the building, but also seven buildings around it. [11:26] I really do appreciate the way in which New Yorkers have responded to this situation. [11:30] We've seen that they have followed the instructions that have been provided by first responders on the ground. [11:35] And that has been immensely helpful to ensuring that those first responders can be focused on the work at hand. [11:40] I'm now going to pass it over to our DOB commissioner to add to additional details. [11:47] So because the structural issue has to do with load bearing columns, [11:55] what we bring in are emergency struts that will take on the load of that and be applied throughout the floor to take on that load. [12:05] Plus we may apply additional struts given that there could be weakening or cracks somewhere else. [12:13] So it's really emergency beams, emergency columns that are brought in and then they go and replace the load. [12:20] Plus we may add additional for extra security and safety. [12:23] Thank you. [12:25] Yes, as we discussed before, there is extensive work happening right now between the engineers, DOB staff, FDNY, [12:35] to evaluate the situation on the level using the information that we're bringing from the outside. [12:40] Once we have a secure plan, we'll be able to bring the equipment that we have now on site after asking the contractor to bring that forward [12:46] so that we're ready to go once we have a plan. [12:48] Thank you for my time. We have time for just one more. We're going to go to pitch. Just one last one, then we have to go. Go ahead. [13:25] I want to be honest with New Yorkers that this is a fast-developing situation. [13:29] We are taking it minute by minute and I appreciate our city workers who have been on the forefront of that. [13:34] Every few minutes we are looking at a new assessment of the structure and of the possibilities and the options that we have in front of us. [13:41] When it comes to the New Yorkers who call these streets their home, we are going to be in touch with them as soon as we have any updates. [13:49] What I will say to them for now is thank you because despite the impact on their day, they have responded calmly. They have responded with urgency. [13:56] And to those New Yorkers who do not live in this neighborhood, I would say to steer clear of this area so that we can actually ensure the focus is on this response. [14:06] We will be sure to keep the public up to date with any new developments as we have them. [14:10] Right now, we're going to go back to work to ensure that all of these incredible city workers can do what they have been here doing since the morning, which is looking to keep us all safe. [14:19] We are only going to allow New Yorkers to return back to these buildings when we are fully confident that they are safe for them to do so. [14:37] That safety is paramount for us in every decision we're making right now. [14:42] I think you heard from our DOB commissioner that there is an active investigation underway as to what brought us to this point. [15:12] Our focus right now is on making sure that this site is safe, this building is safe, this neighborhood is safe. [15:17] That investigation, however, will continue because we want to make sure that these actions are not ones that are appealing. [15:22] Thank you all very much. [15:24] What is our new complaining video game?