News & Features
Rescuers Use All Resources in Search for Casualties
By Nick DeRatto
Sep 17, 2008 - 9:24:09 AM

Firefighters begin digging into the rubble after determining the location of missing construction worker Scott Giordano.

What started as another relatively quiet day in Chester turned to tragedy on Wednesday, September 10 in the Village Green. Shortly after noon, sirens pierced the air after a 60-foot section of the Fountain Square Plaza condominiums collapsed, injuring one worker and killing another. The section contained approximately 60,000 square feet.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I heard all these sirens and saw all these lights and just thought that there was an accident on Chester Rd.,” says Leslie Russell, resident of Chester Village Senior Apartments. “I just don’t believe that something like this would happen in Chester.”

Joey Clampitt, an electrical worker for Raeco Electric, was on scene when the building collapsed. Working on the roof earlier that day, Clampitt had just left for lunch when the building fell.

“I saw the wall start going toward the street and came running over because I heard a bunch of people screaming,” says Clampitt. “There were at least 10 sheetrock and heating guys inside when it started, and I drug out one of the sheet rockers.” That man, who has not been identified, was later taken to Chippenham Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

With initial reports indicating that up to 12 workers were possibly trapped inside the collapsed structure, the Village Green quickly turned into a media circus, attracting local and national media outlets. Worried about the potential of a secondary collapse, rescue workers were unable to assuage those fears for several hours.

“We are conducting a large-scale tactical effort to make the area safe before we attempt a rescue operation,” said Matt Coffin, spokesman for Chesterfield Fire & EMS, in an early media briefing. “The building is in a very unsafe condition.”

Over 100 rescue workers responded to the collapse, including members of the Central Virginia Technical Rescue Team, which includes members of the Chesterfield, Richmond, Henrico, and Hanover technical rescue teams. The Crater Regional Technical Rescue Team was also on hand, which includes members of Petersburg Fire & EMS.

“With the manpower we have out here, this is equivalent to a four-alarm fire,” Coffin said. “We are doing everything we can to take the right precautions to keep our workers safe. There is a major compromise in the structural integrity of the building.”

Rescue operations continued slowly throughout the day as rescue officials assessed the damage and looked for the safest way into the building. To help determine if anyone was still in the building, rescue teams used highly sensitive microphones that are able to pick up voices and minute movements, such as breathing. K-9 Alert was also brought in to help search for trapped workers.

After the intensive, all-day search, Chesterfield Fire & EMS confirmed around 6:15 p.m. that they had found the body of Scott A. Giordano, 38, of Disputanta, Va. Unaccounted for during roll call of workers at the site immediately after the collapse, Giordano was the only fatality.

Owned by McBar Realty, the building was nearing completion and was to be a multilevel, mixed-use facility, with businesses on the bottom floor and residences on the top. Rescue operations concluded at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 11; the current investigation operation is being handled jointly by the Chesterfield County Police Department and Virginia Occupational Safety and Health authorities. No cause for the collapse has yet been determined.

nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421

© Copyright by Village Publishing LLC