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9 11, literally. This is by far the most horrific thing ive seen in my life. The whole thing came down. It looks like a bomb went off. Were pretty sure a bomb didnt go off. Heartbreaking for anyone still trapped inside. This stunning new hopeful. A young boy being rescued from the rubble. There are fears, understandable fears, more people could be trapped. Right now more than 80 Emergency Teams are working to find survivors if they can. This is what the 12story Ocean Front Condo Building looked like before this mornings collapse. And now a huge piece of that structure came down. Cnns Leyla Santiago is on the scene in surf side, florida, with the very latest. Do we have any idea, leyla, how many people were inside that building when it came down . Reporter that is a very big unanswered question at this point. I can tell you it is still active Search And Rescue where the debris is, the building, whats left of it, has been cleared, the portion that is still standing. Let me walk you through what we have going on right now. We are just north of miami beach, and the sun has come up so we are Getting Better visuals. Man, i have to tell you things have really changed in terms of who were seeing out here. When we arrived there were firefighters. We could see them checking the balconies even, flashlights inside because it was dark. Now you see all sorts of officials gathering. They kind of huddled up just a second ago. So clearly everyone is getting briefed, getting the latest. And they are right next to a miamidade fire rescue collapse unit. So we are expecting to get updates from police, i understand the mayor is going to give an update in the next 15, 20 minutes. But we can confirm that there was one death, ten people treated on scene, and that they continue to search using dogs under the debris. Now, let me tell you what ive learned, not from officials, but from those who were here, those who were inside when this Building Collapsed and those who were outside. I spoke to one man who said he thought it was like a bomb. Thats what it sounded like. Then i spoke to one woman who said the dust was so much that it traveled for blocks. Let me let you listen for yourself. I looked down the hallway and its a very long hallway, probably 100 yards, 75 yards. And there was nothing there. It was just a pile of dust and rubble and paint falling from the ceilings. I felt the whole building was just going to collapse, so once we were in the cherrypicker, a feeling of relief just came over me that was incredible, that i had survived this tragedy. The building, it was still shaking. There was, you know, it just seemed like it was very unsteady. And i just, you know, knowing how what it looked like outside my door, i thought that any minute we could be that same pile of rubble. Reporter so, let me tell you what we have learned about the building itself. This is a building that was built in the 80s. This area, by the way, is known as sort of an upscale Beach Community with a mixture of old and new buildings. This building, we are told by the mayor, did have some roofing work. What role that played, still unclear, if any. But we can also tell you that theres some concern for the building next to it. There is a small hotel right next to it that they have also taken families out of that building, believing that its compromised because of the building that collapsed next door. We do know that the red cross is here helping out with that. The big question, what will now be at the center of this all, how did this happen . What led to this building partially collapsing in the middle of the night . That will be the central question for the investigation moving forward. Leyla, thank you for all the reporting and being there and talking to people. It is amazing to hear from that man who escaped. I do want to ask you about the warning or concern from the mayor of surf side, charles becken. He said were afraid the building may be afraid of additional collapse. The question is how do they carry out a Search And Rescue when the building could collapse on the people trying to find anyone . Reporter its a very, very tricky situation. I can tell you there are more than 80 units here responding, trying to carefully figure out how to move forward. You know, again, when i arrived this was filled with ambulances, fire trucks, police units. And now theyve all sort of gathered there to try to figure out how they move forward. The mayor did confirm that they are now they had dogs out in the middle of the night. That was a tough thing for them, so they are trying to get back again with those dogs to find what they can find under all of that debris. But, poppy, youre absolutely right. This is not an easy go in and see what we can find. There are some very, very big logistical and safety challenges here. Leyla, stay close, but we also know you need to keep doing your reporting. So talk to folks and get back to us with more information if you can. In the meantime lets bring in dave downy, chair of the urban Search And Rescue community for the International Association of fire chiefs. Chief, it is so important to have you on because you know this stuff better than any of us. How do you do what leyla and i were just talking about, which is how do you continue a search and Rescue Operation when the rest of the building is at risk of collapse . Well, thats the biggest concern right now, is the secondary collapse. And there you have highly trained, highly experienced rescuers. Miamidade fire rescue is part of the National Search and rescue system under fema, and those members have tremendous amounts of experience. So we have Structural Engineers that are going to be there assessing the structure, telling them where they can go, where they cant go, what they need to do to stabilize certain parts of the structure, in order to effect a search operation. We use the canines to help locate or zero in on the possibility of a location of a victim. So its a very methodical process. Miamidade, i think ill often see when you have issues like this around the country, its one of these Quick Reaction teams that will travel to other parts of the country to lend their expertise. These early hours, you know better than us, are crucial, are they not . If youre going to find survivors, you need to be in there looking innout, right . Absolutely. The Search And Rescue begins immediately. There is a structured process of removing the surface victims, those lightly trapped. And whats happening now is theyre looking for voids. Theyre doing void searches. The next part will be starting to delayer some of the rubble to, again, uncover some void spaces if they exist. This type of collapse, unfortunately, you dont see a lot of the void spaces. There is a very methodical process, but its going to take some time. Time is of the essence. This structure was built in the 80s. Even though it was built before Hurricane Andrew before codes went into effect, it is built to withstand hurricanes. What would take Something Like this down . You would think its built to withstand hurricanes. I think all of us are going to be interested to find what brought this down. In my almost 40 years in the fire service, i have never seen a collapse like this. This type of collapse not associated with any other forces that we know of. It just it bewhichilders me well. The Rescue Operations and recovery operations, those things need to take place, then the methodical review of how this Building Collapsed. Its your understanding, i believe, chief downey, this building was occupied to a large degree. Will authorities at this point have any sense as to how many people or even a rough number of people who are in the building when it came down or is it guesswork at this point . Well, there is a process and they are trying now to gather the information, how many victims were removed, those that were in the part of the building that stayed up, the majority of them had to be rescued over Fire Department ladders because the stairwells were compromised. And so trying to sort out, you know, how many victims came out, where did they go, they have a Unification Center established, and that process is underway to figure out who is there, who is missing. That will take, again, quite a bit of time to kind of sort it out because theres a lot of, you know, a lot of unanswered questions. Its very difficult to know exactly how many people were occupying that structure at the time. The mayor of surf side said just a few moments ago that the dogs that they sent out to try to find any survivors in the middle of the night did not have any hits. Those were his words. But does that mean i would assume theyll keep sending them out. Its very sad to hear they didnt have any hits the first time, but that doesnt preclude them potentially finding people, right . Oh, it absolutely doesnt preclude it. Theyre going to run multiple dogs multiple times. These dogs are highly trained. Theyre an Effective Member of Search And Rescue. And, you know, ive seen them do remarkable things. So, theyre going to continue to run the canines where its safe, and that will be, again, a process thats ongoing for a number of hours. Okay. Youre seeing live picture here live pictures here of a press conference. Local Police Chiefs and others. When it begins, well bring it to you live. As we wait, chief downey, to your point when you see collapses like this around the world, you sometimes get happy surprises days later, right . I mean, you can, you can find survivors many hours or days after the event in the best of circumstances. Yes. I mean, in the best of circumstances. The early hours are going to be the greatest chance for survival. The type of collapse is going to dictate how, you know, how viable victims could be depending on how big the void spaces are. This type of collapse doesnt lend itself too big open void spaces. Were looking at these images. This is a 13story building thats down to a pile of rubble thats maybe a story high. So that stand by, chief. Press conference is beginning. Lets have a listen. With the residents, with the families, with the community. What we know at this point is that the champlaign building, its more than 130 units and about half of those have collapsed. A massive Search And Rescue is underway and we know that were going to do everything we can possibly do to identify and rescue those who have been trapped in the rubble. Miamidade fire rescue is leading the efforts. They have been on the scene since the Early Morning and they are doing an amazing job. Thank you so much to our brave, brave fire rescue workers. They have years of experience in this type of operation, and they are doing everything they possibly can do. So we need to allow them to do their work. Very important. We need to allow them to do their work because every minute in this search can make a huge difference. We have set up a Family Reunification Hotline for those who are trying to get information about their loved ones. Call 3056141819. 6141819 or you can go to miamidade. Gov emergency to report online Missing Persons or to check in if someone is safe. So, again, 3056141819. Chaplains and victim advocates are onsite ready to support the survivors and Family Members who are in need of resources. Our social Service Agencies as well are coming in. They are going to be here to assist in the hours and days ahead. Im thinking of all of our First Responders. I know you are as well and praying for their safety as they go about their difficult work of saving lives. [ speaking Foreign Language ] [ speaking Foreign Language ] next to speak is going to be the county commission chairman. This is a very sad moment in our community, and especially the city of surf side. When stuff like this actually happens, it is all the prayers go out to the Family Members and those suffering right now. I want to thank all the First Responders for the incredible job that theyve been doing, they have done and will be doing the next several days in dealing with this. It is important that we all rally around the families and the people that are actually suffering so much at this time. I want to thank my colleague also that is here along with all my colleagues who have been calling nonstop to find out if there is anything they can do to help out. We are together as a Community Working together, as the mayor said. All the details have been given, but were here together to find anything that we could do to help the families that have gone through this tragedy. So, on behalf of Miamidade Countys commission, as the chairman of the board, were here to support the surf side and this community and everything we can do. [ speaking Foreign Language ] next speaker is going to be the Assistant Speaker for miamidade fire rescue. Good morning. Ray gadallah, miamidade fire rescue. So, miamidade fire rescue, at approximately 1 30 this morning, responded to a reported Building Collapse. To summarize, we had a 12story, 136unit Apartment Complex that had sustained a partial collapse. The Northeast Corridor of the apartment had collapsed approximately 55 apartment units. Our units began Search And Rescue efforts. They pulled 35 occupants that were trapped inside the building. In addition to those 35, ten were assessed and treated. Two were transported to various hospitals. Skpch Search And Rescue efforts are ongoing. We have searches inside based on intel resources inside. To echo the mayors words, we have established a reUnification Center. And if you do have loved ones that are not answering your call, we ask that you do contact the phone number thats been given to you. 3056141819. Thank you. Do the spanish fire rescue. [ speaking Foreign Language ] we appear to have lost the feed from the mayors and the police press conference. I believe we still have chief downey with us theyre back. Lets listen. [ speaking Foreign Language ] good morning. First and foremost, we pray for the victims and their families. The Miamidade Police departments role will be the lead investigative agency. Well be working with surf Side Police Department and our other municipal partners. Our goal is to provide a thorough investigation and closure for our families. [ speaking Foreign Language ] can we get your name . Freddie ramirez, director Miamidade Police department. City of surf side. First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the victims. Also i just want to make sure that Emergency Personnel understand how important it is that we have their participation here. We appreciate it very much. Weve been in contact with senator scott, senator rubios office has been in touch with the governors office, governor desantis, the mayor, other towns in the area. Were very appreciative of what theyve offered and the assistance, anything we need. This is not going to be something that is going to be brief. Its going to be something thats going to be for the long term, and possibly, you know, at least a week. These people behind me, its very important that you recognize them because theres a lot of support here and this is who is helping to make this happen, that we can resolve this as quick as possible. Thank you. Fire and rescue, surf side due to the lightning that you just saw, were only going to allow for four questions and for the safety of everyone here, were going to move them out. You guys are going to be moved to the next block over. This is going to be vacated for safety reasons. So just four questions and then were going to continue on really quick. Fire . What can you tell us what kind of equipment you have uniquely positioned to help with this information . So, in regards to the equipment, we do have our heavy rescue, we have our heavy equipment such as our parra techs. We sure up as we continue to tunnel in to locate additional survivors. Out of 135 people, how many were in the damaged part versus the undamaged part . How many were pulled from the part that collapsed . So, part one, 35 were pulled out from the structure and part of the collapse but not from the rubble and two were pulled from the rubble. [ Inaudible Question ] ill defer that to Miamidade Police department. Would you elaborate [ inaudible ] i dont have that information, ill defer that. Currently search and Rescue Operations are continuing based on the intel that we have. [ Inaudible Question ] in regards to the number of people missing, we dont have the total missing. We havent established that. Again, we ask that you continue to contact the reunification number thats been given out until we go from there. Do you expect the deat