Brick by brick, crews are removing the remaining parts of the chimney. Sources say the incident was very close to being a catastrophe.

New York

Inspectors at the scene of the Mitchel Houses explosion in New York have credited the building's chimney design with preventing a major disaster. According to sources, the separation between the chimney and the rest of the building allowed the main structure to remain intact, avoiding a full collapse and potentially saving hundreds of lives.

Crews are currently working to remove the damaged chimney, with repairs expected to take several weeks. In the meantime, all gas and hot water have been cut off across the complex as a precaution, even in buildings with separate boiler systems, to prevent further incidents while the investigation and repairs continue.

Sources: Mitchel Houses explosion was inches from catastrophe

We're learning new information from our sources at the scene of the Mitchell houses where inspectors say the design of the chimney may have saved hundreds of lives. Watching News 12, I'm Nadia Galindo. News 12's Mike LaMoure joins us from the scene. Mike, what are you hearing from inspectors there on the ground? Nadia, sources here are telling me that this came within inches of being a catastrophe. But thanks to the design of that chimney, well, families are temporarily relocating from the Mitchell houses instead of planning for funerals. Now take a look at the building. We're now several days into this partial collapse. Crews are slowly making progress. They've already removed bricks from the top five floors here, about 15 more to go until that chimney is completely removed. But notice how there's multiple layers of brick between the rest of the building and what was the chimney. Sources tell me because of that separation, well, the rest of the building was able to maintain its structure instead of coming crumbling down like that chimney. Now there is still a long way to go here on these repairs. It may take weeks to complete, but in the meantime, all gas and hot water, it's been cut off even to the other buildings in the complex. We don't have hot water, no stuff, nothing, nothing, nothing at all. Three days from now. And Nadia, even though each building has its own boiler system completely separate from the one that exploded, nitrous sources here on the ground tell me that this complete cut off is due to safety measures to prevent any further explosions in the event that there's a gas leak they don't already know about. For now, we're live here in Mott Haven, Michael Morton News 12 the Bronx.

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Washington

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Canterbury

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Middle East Conflict

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Manchester

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Sochi

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Chernihiv

Ukraine Invasion

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LaGuardia Airport

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Doha

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Jerusalem

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Odesa Oblast

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Kabul

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Cebu

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Breakdown