Fire and demolition crews start on tear-down of collapsed French Quarter building

The demolition process of a building that collapsed Tuesday and Wednesday in the French Quarter has begun. The actual tearing down of the building began around noon in the 800 block of Royal Street near St. Ann, and work is set to take several days.

On Tuesday afternoon, part of the building unexpectedly collapsed. Just 24 hours later, more large chunks of the building went down.

Truly a miracle that no one was hurt, said New Orleans Fire Chief Timothy McConnell. You know, the crowds here in the French Quarter and the foot traffic on Royal Street -- very, very fortunate.

Records say this building was built in 1810. McConnell said due to the building's age, they have to assume some hazardous materials could have been used to build it -- meaning they had to get permits from the Department of Environmental Quality before demolition. He said that is just one of their many challenges.

Not a lot of room for staging your equipment. And debris, as you start to tear it out-- and trying to get trucks in here to haul it away -- the French Quarter obviously adds other challenges due to the close proximity of everything, said McConnell. So it will be a little more tedious and time-consuming than if it was in another location.

Meanwhile, Royal Street between St. Ann and Dumaine streets will remain closed while crews work, which will effect vehicle traffic, foot traffic and day-to-day life for residents and business owners. So far, Crescent City Tour owner Frank Perez said this chaos has not had a negative impact on his life.

Yesterday was not a bad day for us business-wise, so I'm hoping that it won't affect any of the business, said Perez.

The French Quarter history expert is sad to see such a historic building go. He said it's one of the first, if not the first, three-story structure in the Quarter.

On the bright side, he said it could save more lives and heartache in the future

I just can't help but suspect that there are other buildings that need attention. I hope that landlords and business owners will pay a little bit more attention now, said Perez.

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Fire and demolition crews start on tear-down of collapsed French Quarter building