Wall removal blamed in fall of ceiling
Parishioners were refurbishing church
BY STEVE REEVES AND GLENN SMITH
Of The Post and Courier Staff (Friday, May 21, 2004)
The partial collapse of a church building Wednesday night is blamed on "over-enthusiastic" parishioners who knocked down a load-bearing wall and part of another wall just before the second floor caved in, trapping two men.
"What they did was make a major structural defect in the building," Carl Simmons, director of building services for Charleston County said Thursday. "Buildings are not anything to play around with. They were fortunate it was not more severe."
Parishioner Keyo Mazyck received the worst injuries, with a broken pelvis and a broken leg. He was trapped from the waist down when the upper floor, 2 to 14 inches thick and made of concrete, gave way at the Tree of Life Ministries on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston.
"It didn't fall completely down," Charleston County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Dana Valentine said. "Part of it still held up. If it hadn't, it probably would have killed this guy."
Simmons said the second floor collapsed after church members removed the load-bearing walls and a critical support beam.
Mazyck and James Walden, who were working on the first floor at about 10 p.m., were trapped in eight to 10 tons of rubble after the second floor collapsed on top of them. Walden was treated for an injured shoulder and released.
Simmons said it appeared to be a case of an "over-enthusiastic congregation not knowing what it was doing. You just don't remove a load-bearing wall."
The church members were trying to refurbish the church, which recently changed owners, Simmons said. He said it appeared church members, who had not received any building permits, used sledge hammers to knock down the walls to make a larger space out of several rooms.
Valentine said the church recently bought the building and hired a contractor to start renovation work next week.
The two injured men were supposed to be painting and doing other minor work, she said.
The contractor, James Simmons, declined to comment when reached Thursday.
The church's pastor and several parishioners either did not return phone calls seeking comment or declined to comment when reached by telephone. Simmons said officials have been unable so far to determine who owns the church's building.
North Charleston Chief Fire Investigator Benjamin Norris said the men not only removed the load-bearing wall, but the metal I-beam above it that helped support the second floor.
Mazyck was near the doorway of the activity room when the upper floor collapsed on him, Norris said.
If he had been near the middle of the room, the results might have been fatal, he said.
"He was really lucky to be where he was," Norris said. "Any other place, he might not have made it."
Rescuers used special air jacks to lift the concrete off the pinned man, Norris said.
The collapse occurred in an area behind the sanctuary, in a portion of the building used for classrooms. Authorities sealed off that portion of the building Wednesday night after it was deemed unsafe.
A concrete brick wall on the second floor is hanging by its mortar and is unstable, as is the remainder of the floor, Norris said. "I suspect it could fall very easily."
Rescue responded along side several other agencies to a reported floor collapse at the Tree of Life Ministries Church, to find one worker trapped under a fallen floor. In just over an hour Rescue Squad members and North Charleston Fire Fighters shored up dangling floor & wall sections and lifted a part of the floor to remove the patient. All under the coordination of the EMS/Rescue Medical Director and County & City of North Charleston Building/Structural Engineers.
AGENCIES RESPONDING
Charleston County Vol. Rescue Squad
Charleston County EMS
Charleston County EPD
Charleston County Sheriffs Office
Charleston County Building Services
North Charleston Fire Department
North Charleston Police Dept
North Charleston Building Inspections
City of Charleston Fire Dept - USAR Team
