The Prince William County Fire and Rescue Department responded to a call at 1:35 p.m. this afternoon about a partial building collapse in the Wentworth Green development on Senea Drive in Gainesville.
On a construction site for new townhomes in the development, the wind caught hold of roof trusses that were tacked into place on the third floor – which is standard practice – and caused the collapse, according to Thomas Jarman, Battalion Chief for Prince William fire and rescue.
“It really wasn’t a whole building collapse – it was houses under construction – and they had some of the roofing trusses collapsed,” said Jarman.
Jarman stated that Jim Forgo, the incident commander, and other responders arrived at the scene and found three adult males had been injured.
A rope system and elevated anchor point were used to retrieve the three victims, according to Jarman.
One of the victims has a lower body injury, believed to be a fracture, said Jarman.
The injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, according to Jarman.
“We actually ended up transporting a total of three patients. One was a little more serious – I believe there was a fracture. He was the one that was removed from the third floor of the townhouse,” Jarman said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are on the scene and investigating.
