Fire Chief in Iowa Says 1 Person Rescued Overnight From Building Collapse in Davenport

DAVENPORT, Iowa—One more person has been rescued and taken to a hospital after a building collapsed in Iowa.

Davenport Fire Chief Michael Carlsten said at a news conference on Monday that it was unclear how many people, if any, were still missing after an apartment building in the eastern Iowa city collapsed.

Rescuers were called to the scene shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. Fire crews rescued seven people and escorted more than a dozen others from the building in their initial response.

Carlsten said the back of the six-story apartment complex collapsed and had separated from the building, which houses apartments on the upper floors and businesses on the ground level.

Authorities found a gas leak after the collapse, Carlsten said, while water also had leaked throughout the floors of the structure.

The stability of the building was a concern following secondary collapses while rescuers were at the scene, Carlsten said.

The Davenport Police Department asked people to avoid downtown after the collapse.

A reunification area established at St. Anthony’s Church on Main Street was being serviced by Red Cross personnel, Carlsten said.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

Rich Oswald, City of Davenport director of development and neighborhood services, said at a news conference that work was being done on the building’s exterior at the time of the collapse.

Reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week were part of that work and the building’s owner had a permit for the project, Oswald said.

The Quad-City Times reported Robert Robinson, a second-floor resident, had gone outside and returned as alarms went off in the building.

“When we started to go back in the lights went out,” he told the newspaper. “All of a sudden everybody started running out saying the building collapsed. I’m glad we came down when we did.”

Robinson and his girlfriend were able to take the elevator down just in time, he said.

“This is horrible,” he said. “We don’t have anywhere to go. Nothing to eat.”

Tadd Machovec, a Davenport contractor, told the newspaper he was inside putting up a support beam when the building came down.

Some people in the area said the building has had problems. City officials said Sunday that they had several complaints from residents about needed repairs.

Jennifer Smith, co-owner of Fourth Street Nutrition, said she learned of the explosion from her husband, who works for Mid-American Energy.

“He was on call and got called in for a building explosion downtown. We had no idea it was our building,” she said. “It sounds bad, but we have been calling the city and giving complaints since December. Our bathroom caved in December.”

Smith said water damage has been apparent since they moved into their space in the winter. The company’s co-owner, Deonte Mack, said fire crews were in the building as recently as Thursday for an inspection.

“The tenants told us the building was going to collapse,” Smith said.

The Quad-City Times reported the building is owned by Andrew Wold. A working phone number for Wold was not immediately available Sunday night and attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.

Nearly 20 permits were filed in 2022 for building repairs, mainly for plumbing or electrical issues, according to the county assessor’s office.