Theatre demolition continues after killer accident
The fallout from the Dec. 15 sudden collapse of the Uptown Theatre continues with word that the family of the man killed in the accident is considering suing for damages.
Twenty-seven-year-old Augusto Cesar Mejia Solis was using a computer in the Yorkville English Academy when a section of a wall at the next door theatre dropped on the roof of the school, causing it to fall into a classroom.
Fourteen others were injured, though officials say the number of victims could have been higher had the accident not happened at a time during a morning break when most of the students were out of the common area where the wall fell.
Solis, 27, who was from Costa Rica, was in Toronto learning English and was preparing to return home in a few months at the time of the accident.
At the time of the mid-morning collapse, a demolition crew was tearing down the historic theatre to make way for a planned 50-storey condo tower. The theatre owners, Famous Players, opted to sell the property rather than spend the money needed to follow orders from the province and make the facility accessible to wheelchairs.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Labour is busy probing the incident and working to determine what when wrong. Priestly Demolition was given the go ahead to continue dismantling the theatre.
City building inspectors had not visited the site since construction began but officials said that it’s not common for inspectors to visit a site after demolition begins.
Toronto Mayor David Miller, who visited the site on the day of the accident, urged the public to be patient and not to jump to conclusions or place blame until authorities have completed their investigations.
Miller also issued a declaration praising the Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) team for their work in the hours after the first call to 9-1-1 came at 10:31 a.m.
Fire Chief William Stewart called in the HUSAR team because of its specialized skills in searching for victims in unstable buildings.
It was just the second time the team, formed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, had been called into action. They were also on the scene of the massive natural gas explosion that levelled an Etobicoke plaza, killing seven, earlier this spring.
The Uptown disaster also had an impact on neigbouring businesses that were forced to close on the day of the accident and in ensuing days thereafter.
A whole block of stores on the west side of Yonge St. between Bloor and Charles Sts. were affected having to close, while all of the shops on the south side of Bloor St. W. between Yonge and Balmuto Sts. were closed, except for one — Stollery’s men’s wear at Yonge and Bloor —for more than a week.
Store owners were told by city officials to delay reopening until a large, high wall of the theatre had been brought down to a safe level.
Stores on the east side of Yonge were granted permission to reopen sooner.
The Ministry of Labour said it would take several months before it could conclude its investigation, but said its probe would involve engineers and officials from the City of Toronto’s works department.
Following the tragedy, the provincial government announced it would hire 25 more workplace safety inspectors. The Tory government had cut the number of positions to 205 from 278.
Also, several individuals and companies have stepped forward to aid Solis’s family who are now in the middle of arranging to have the body shipped to Costa Rica for burial. The funeral home and even Air Canada have waived their usual fees for handling of the body and travel to Solis’s home country.
An autopsy revealed Solis, who was at a computer sending an e-mail to his family back home, died as the result of suffocation cause by blunt force trauma.