Collapsed Kelowna crane that killed 5 coming down; evacuees may be home soon

More than 100 Kelowna residents are still out of their homes waiting for a safe return after Monday’s collapse of a construction crane in downtown Kelowna.

That may change later today, July 14, as sections are slowly being removed from the top of the tower crane remaining next to the Brooklyn apartment tower on St. Paul Street.

“They’re just moving slowly and steadily so, as soon as we get that stabilized, we’ll be able reduce the number of people that are evacuated,” Kelowna fire chief Travis Whiting told iNFOnews.ca from the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre.

Two mobile cranes are on site. One secures the top of the damaged tower while the other lifts a worker to unbolt sections of the tower before lowering them to the ground.

By 2 p.m. they were getting close to the higher of two sections of beams that secure the tower crane to the building.

Whiting hopes to be able to announce a return home for some of the evacuees – he thought there were 118 of them – later today.

“It’s really being driven by site safety and a concern for doing things properly to ensure people are safe throughout,” he said.

Four construction workers and an unconnected worker, whose body wasn't recovered until late last night inside a neighbouring building, died as a result of the collapse.

READ MORE: Fifth body recovered from rubble of Kelowna crane collapse

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