Building inspector was on Surfside condo's roof hours before collapse

A building inspector was on the Surfside condo's roof just 14 hours before the fatal collapse to check the replacement of window washer anchors.

Jim McGuinness, the town's building official, said during the town's emergency meeting that he was on the roof of the building a mere 14 hours before the collapse, according to the Palm Beach Post. McGuinness said that there was no equipment or circumstances that led him to believe the building was in danger.

"There was no inordinate amount of equipment or materials or anything on that roof that caught my building official’s eye that would make it alarming as to this place collapsing," McGuinness said during the meeting Friday afternoon. "I have two words for the cause of this: under investigation."

McGuinness was on the roof to inspect the replacement of rooftop anchors used by window cleaners to attach equipment on the side of the building. So far the collapse of the building has claimed four lives and 159 people are missing.

"It would be imprudent not to take some types of steps to address that issue with the sister building," Mayor Charles Burkett said during the meeting. Both the north, which is still standing, and the south towers were built in 1981 before the changes to the state building code brought on by Hurricane Andrew.

"I've had people come up to me and say, 'Listen, is my building safe?'" Burkett said. "But given we have no idea what caused this collapse — and listen, the chances of that happening again are like lightning striking — but I don't know that there’s anybody in this room that would be willing to roll the dice with all those lives and say, let's not worry about it for a while," he said.

One of the main topics since the collapse has been the fact that buildings in Miami must be re-certified as safe by a third-party engineer once every 40 years. Many including Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer are calling for that window to be decreased and new testing including a "geotechnical profile" to be required.

"When these rules were put into place, global warming was imaginary. Sea-level rise wasn’t a thing. People assumed that the ground beneath the building stayed the same forever, and we know that’s not true," Salzhauer  said. "While we have the ear of our state legislators, while we have the ear of the governor, while we have the ear of the president, let's make those changes."

McGuinness echoed the point of updating building codes by saying, "Hurricane Andrew changed the Florida building codes forever. So this terrible tragedy, which is a national tragedy, is going to change the building codes as they relate to certification and all existing buildings."