Security camera catches moment women escape collapsing building: 'It was scary'

Katie Mather
·Internet Culture Reporter

A security camera captured the moment a building, which had been undergoing renovations at the time, suddenly collapsed in Washington, D.C., injuring one of the women that happened to be walking by.

The released footage shows the two women crossing the street when the building behind them starts to crumble.

"If they didn’t run, the break would have got them," Komba Mboma, who witnessed the scene unfold, told WUSA9.

According to WUSA9, a security guard from an apartment complex nearby named the woman in the video as one of the residents of the building he worked at and said the woman walking with her was her aid.

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"All a sudden we hear something going, like a jet passing by," Mboma said. "And then, when you look outside, the building is split into two."

Fortunately, a firetruck was a block away when they got the call about the building and were able to immediately rush over to assist the woman.

“We definitely get to see a lot of stuff, lot of unique things, but having a building collapse right in front of you when you’re driving down the street in your fire truck is a little bit unusual, out of the norm," D.C. Fire Lieutenant Jan Sipes told WUSA9.

A safety gate can be seen surrounding the building in the video, due to the recent renovations, which helped contain a lot of the debris. Search teams ensured that there were no additional victims and fire officials confirmed that there is no threat to nearby structures either.

"I thank the God almighty that I was not around that area," Mboma said. "It was scary."