Residents of a row of attached brick houses in Halifax known as the Twelve Apostles could be out of their homes for up to two weeks after engineers Monday deemed a razed building behind the houses a hazard.

Fire destroyed the commercial building at 5426 Portland Place on Sunday, leaving a blackened hulk between the Staples store on Gottingen Street and the row houses on Brunswick Street.

The engineer hired by the insurance company deemed the remaining wall to be a hazard so we had to evacuate the residents for their safety, said Lloyd Currie, divisional commander for the Halifax regional fire service.

This is the second time residents have been forced out of their homes due to the fire.

I woke up Sunday morning and all I heard was water on the roof, said Faron Felix, a student at NSCAD University.

At first I thought it was rain, but then I realized it was too heavy and then I felt the heat from the blaze behind us and saw the big wall of orange flames.

Felix and his roommate had been happy to get back into their building but were told late Monday to leave again.

Jill MacLellan has lived in one of the units for over three years. She stood talking with a few residents as firefighters, police officers and Red Cross workers gathered at the site. Her cat, Henry, sprawled in a carrier, unaffected by the goings on.

This is a beautiful old building; theyre really unique with lots of character, she said.

MacLellan would be staying at her brothers place in Fall River.

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Historic Halifax rowhouses evacuated after fire officials fear retaining wall collapse

The Hindu The compound wall of the house near Edachira junction in Kakkanad collapsed on Sunday allegedly due to unscientific soil mining by neighbour. It has threatened the existence of the two-storied building. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

: The compound wall of a three-storied house near Edachira, Kakkanad caved in during the heavy rain that lashed the region on Saturday midnight. The incident spooked residents and locals as it comes a month after a three-storied buildingcollapseclaimed three lives at Aluva.

The police said the compound wall of the five cent property owned by Sukumaran collapsed onto the adjacent compound, located about 20 feet deep off the ground level. The solid-blocks wall along with a make-shit shed on the higher gradient began to give way around 12 midnight and it collapsed completely about four hours later. However, no causalities have been reported and those inside the building were evacuated to the houses nearby, police said.

The building had about 14 persons living in it, including the six-member family of the property owner and migrant labourers. They were evacuated from the spot with the help of local residents and the police.

The 15-cent property onto which the building collapsed was owned by a person called Jose, settled in Bangalore.

Chairman of the Thrikkakara Municipality Shaji Vazhakkala attribute the incident to the unscientific soil mining in the adjacent property owned by Jose. Steps are on to remove the debris from the spot and strengthen the building with a retaining wall. The construction of the wall will begin once the authorities complete inspections in the area, he said, adding that the cost of the works would be recovered from the owner of the neighbourhood property.

Additional District Magistrate B. Ramachandran, who visited the spot on Sunday, said an investigation was on to assess whether the collapse had weakened the building. The evacuees would be permitted to return only after a detailed examination by experts from the PWD buildings division.

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Collapse of building wall triggers panic

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How many of us who cross busy streets daily have been buzzed at one time or another in the crosswalk by a car whose driver apparently just couldnt wait for the walker to clear the road?

Too many, it turns out. And most of the time, all you can do is shake it off, clench your teeth and bite your lip.

Unfortunately, pedestrians in our automobile-dominated culture are too often ignored in this manner. Sometimes the results are tragic. St. Louis is one of the U.S. cities whose rate of pedestrian injuries or deaths has grabbed the attention of the Federal Highway Administration. The agency has included it among its so-called focus cities that require extra attention to shore up safety.

I think everyone is just starting to become aware of this pedestrian-safety issue, said Meredith Klekotka, TravelGreen manager at Trailnet Inc. in St. Louis.

Americans are walking and bicycling more. So while motor vehicle crash fatalities are on the decline, the number of pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths have been on the rise since 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Part of the problem can be traced to our culture and part of it can be linked to the construction of St. Louis roads, which were designed for a larger city, she said. Pedestrians who cross downtown streets, for instance, can spend 80 to 90 feet in a street. Meantime, pedestrians may have to go well out of their way to cross at a downtown corner. As a result, we see a lot of dangerous mid-block crossings.

Missouris pedestrian laws, meanwhile, are antiquated. They have been on the books since the mid-1960s, are not as tough as laws in other states and are probably out of date, Klekotka said.

Making our streets safer for pedestrians will take a multipronged approach, according to safety advocates such as Klekotka. Laws will have to give police more authority to enforce crosswalk safety. Streets can be re-engineered to reduce a pedestrians exposure. (We have seen curb extensions that reduce the actual driving surface that needs to be crossed on foot.) And there is plenty of room for public education.

On the national stage, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx has declared pedestrian and bicyclist safety a top department priority.

Tougher laws dont necessarily mean pedestrians would be safe. A survey released last week by the Active Transportation Alliance showed that drivers stopped less than 20 percent of the time when pedestrians tried to cross a street within a marked crosswalk. Compliance was lower on unmarked crossings, the group said.

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Crosswalks can still pose a danger to those on foot

The bare, white retaining walls along South Elm Street in Creston are like an open canvas for Creston: Arts Council.

What do they have planned for this canvas?

Last week, Brian Zachary with Creston: Arts proposed to Creston City Council hiring a professional painter to complete a mural on the white walls. This mural would be a historical timeline with about 10-14 images from Crestons history.

UCDA and Southwestern have been building and improving this main approach into Uptown and we wanted to help, Zachary said. Murals really enhance the environment and make citizens proud of their city.

Brian Mullin is the painter recommended by Creston: Arts for this project. The 57-year-old Mullin is a 1975 graduate of Creston High School who now owns a commercial and fine arts business in Corning called Mullin Graphic Communications.

Some Crestonians may remember the 1900-era Summit Lake-themed drawing he did for Iowa State Savings Bank during Chalk the Town event on the Fourth of July earlier this summer. Mullin has been a professional artist for the past 35 years.

I know this hasnt been approved yet so I have one foot on the brake and one on the gas, Mullin said. But, Im excited for this project as I spent one summer working in the Creston railyard replacing ties and rails, driving spikes and a whole gamut of other maintenance work. Im intrigued by several other of the images proposed, too.

Mullins fee to complete this project is $6,500 and includes primer, paint and labor. The mural would survive 7 to 10 years.

Zachary requested paying for Mullins services with the citys hotel/motel funds. The council is expected to approve or deny these funds Tuesday when they discuss Creston: Arts Councils budget.

If approved, Mullin could get started this fall and possibly complete the mural this year. See a list of proposed images for this mural, right. Mullin has been instructed to keep these images simple so theyll be easier to view when driving.

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Professional recommended for city mural

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A part of Green Street in Brattleboro is blocked off due to a failing retaining wall. (Kayla Rice/Reformer)

BRATTLEBORO -- Public Works Director Steve Barrett said Lower Green Street is going to remain closed while engineers determine the extent of the damage to the enormous retaining wall that supports the street.

Barrett ordered the road closed Friday after cracks appeared in Lower Green Street above the wall which leads down into the Harmony Parking Lot.

The town has been monitoring the wall for years, Barrett said, and a few weeks ago an engineer noticed a significant shift in the stones and earth.

Cracks then appeared in the pavement above the wall and Barrett closed the street to all vehicles.

"It's a serious situation. It could collapse," Barrett said Thursday.

A part of Green Street in Brattleboro is blocked off due to a failing retaining wall. (Kayla Rice/Reformer)

The town closed the road from Retting Place to High Street to all vehicular traffic.

On Monday the town cut down the tops of the trees that are growing on the wall to protect buildings, vehicles and the public in case the wall does come down.

If the wall fails the trees would crash down as well, extending the damage that could be caused by the wall failure.

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Failing retaining wall forces closure of Brattleboro road

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Retaining wall framing update
via YouTube Capture.

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