ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ten residents were evacuated Monday from a St. Petersburg condominium complex after the city Deputy Fire Marshal found what he described as "compromised stairwells and cracked concrete."
- Cracks first reported Sunday night
- Reinforcements already in place
- Condo association says repairs already begun
Vantage Point condominiums resident Mary Ann Taranto is one of the residents forced to temporarily move while repairs are made.
"Boarding our cats, staying in a hotel and we don't know how long and they're starting construction tomorrow and they're going to get it done as quickly as possible," Taranto told us.
The cracks in the structures were first reported on April 29.
"The fire department was here and they said, 'You need to leave, it may not be safe,'" Taranto said.
Deputy Fire Marshal Lt. Steven Lawrence attributed the damage to a number of factors.
"Looks like a little bit of water damage as well as some past termite damage, but the concrete itself is starting to crack due to the shifting and the weakening of the members, or support members,” said Lawrence. “So as they're starting to weaken and break, then the concrete itself is starting to crack."
St. Pete Fire Rescue crews arrived to find reinforcements were already in place to help stabilize the structure. Karl Schmitz, the attorney for the condo association, said that repairs had already begun on the property.
"There's structural work that's being done because of termite damage that's occurred on the properties — you know that's one of the biggest things,” said Schmitz. “Staircases are being rebuilt because the staircases [are] probably original construction."
The association told us they had their own structural engineer inspecting the buildings.
“To the best of our knowledge none of our buildings have any structural defects and are not in immediate threat of collapse,” said Schmitz.
Residents said they were told repairs could take about three weeks.