DIY disaster nearly brings house down on neighbours

FIREFIGHTERS had to brush up their building skills at short notice after a late-night alert from a householder who was worried that a construction project was about to collapse.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd May 2012, 07:00 BST

Crews arrived at the scene in Sheffield just before midnight on Tuesday to discover a house conversion scheme in need of swift stabilisation after part of it had fallen down.

Officers said they had been called to Tullibardine Road, in the Greystones area of the city, where they found a single-storey brick building with a side wall which had started to collapse, leaving it leaning precariously towards the house next door.

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A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said: “Firefighters immediately shored up the wall to prevent further collapse.

“They then called for the specialist Technical Rescue Unit, who are trained to deal with collapsed buildings.

“They drew the wall up using wooden planks and concrete lintels, making the building safe for the night before an inspection by council dangerous structures officers, who were due on site on Wednesday morning.

“It is believed that the building is a former workshop, which is now in the process of being converted into a house.”

Firefighters arrived at about 11.45pm on Tuesday and left just after 1am yesterday.

Related topics:SheffieldSouth Yorkshire Fire and RescueTechnical Rescue Unit