Kensington demolition project goes horribly wrong

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Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Fishtown demo project goes horribly wrong
Kensington demo project goes horribly wrong. Bob Brooks has more on Action News at 11 p.m. on July 1, 2019.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A brick wall running parallel with a home in the 1500 block of Palethrope Street in Kensington came crashing down on Sunday. It was a demolition project gone wrong.

"It sounded very chaotic. It sounded like war almost, when all these bricks fell," said Abe Zwirn.

Zwrin says at first he thought construction workers might have been trapped underneath.

"We called 911, we told them to get here as quick as possible," said Zwirn.

Luckily no one was trapped. But the home next door had the scaffolding pierce right through the wall.

The construction company had to pull out saws to cut it out.

Luckily, the couple who live there with children weren't hurt.

Action News has obtained a picture of a truck with the logo Mangual Demolition on it.

We also spoke with Venise Whitaker who is a constituent service representative with Councilman Darrell Clarke's office.

"My understanding is they did not have a demo permit for this. They performed this work on a Sunday. L & I inspectors do not work on Sundays," said Whitaker.

She, as well as several others, tonight fear next time something like this happens it'll end up much worse.

We did put calls into the demo company but we have not heard back.