ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL/CNN) — Athens-Clarke County Fire responded to a shocking scene early Friday morning after a massive house party led to a floor collapse.
The department was notified of an incident on Magnolia Bluff Drive near UGA around 1:00 a.m. When they received information on the unusually large number of people inside the home, the response was upgraded to include an Engine, Rescue truck, and a Battalion Chief.
Athens-Clarke County Police were already on the scene when fire crews arrived, working to remove victims from within the structure. National EMS ambulances were also on the scene, and the nature of the emergency led to another fire response upgrade with an additional Rescue truck and Battalion Chief requested.
First responders had a difficult time getting close to the home, a two-story house over a high crawl space, due to the large number of vehicles and people blocking the street.
Reports said that a majority of the first floor had collapsed into the crawl space beneath under the weight of a severely overcrowded party.
Fire crews and medical teams treated around 25 people with a variety of injuries, including scratches and cuts up to a potentially broken arm; however, no patients were transported by EMS, with most either driving themselves or being taken by friends to local area hospitals.
Estimates put the size of the party at nearly 500 people.
“We are grateful that this unexpected event didn’t turn out any worse than it did”, said Captain Nate Moss, a representative of the Athens-Clarke County Fire and Emergency Services Department. “Many times, overcrowding can result in collapses of decks and flooring, especially in older structures. The thing that helped, in this case, was the lack of elevation. These folks should consider themselves fortunate”.
Code enforcement officials were contacted regarding whether the property should be condemned.
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