A man living in a former commercial building in downtown El Paso is safe Thursday after the building collapsed around 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18.
The building, located at 35 East Front St., is called home for the resident. The cause of the collapse was deterioration.
“I know that there were issues with this building prior to this incident where there were some issues with the roofs falling in or caving in,” said the Director of Public Service for the city of El Paso Barry Kauther.
Although Wednesday night’s scene wasn’t pretty, the resident made it out safely.
“At the time, we did not know if there was anybody in the structure, and we wanted to make sure that we could do whatever means to be able to get somebody out if we had to,” said Neil Gauger, fire chief for the El Paso Fire Department.