A fourth victim of the Surfside condo collapse has been identified as Manuel Lafont, a resident of Champlain Towers South's eighth floor, according to Fox-affiliated WSVN-TV's Broward bureau chief, Frank Guzman.
The first was Stacie Fang, a 54-year-old mother whose teen son was pulled from the rubble by rescuers in dramatic video early Thursday morning.
Two other victims have been identified, but authorities said they were withholding their names upon the wishes of their next of kin.
Mayor Charles Burkett acknowledged that he had received calls from residents of the collapsed condo’s sister building, Champlain Towers North, with concerns over whether it was safe to remain in their homes.
Rather than order an evacuation, he said residents could be relocated voluntarily if they desire. Surfside building inspectors went into Champlain Towers North and East for a preliminary inspection earlier Saturday, he said, and found nothing out of order, although the investigation remained ongoing.
He said FEMA was making arrangements to help with a temporary relocation for residents so investigators could conduct a “deep-dive” investigation.“
There was never a mandatory evacuation,” he said. “It’s always been voluntary.”
Two other buildings adjacent to Champlain Towers South were evacuated Thursday.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said during a rainy Saturday evening news briefing that firefighters had contained an underground fire that was hampering their search and rescue efforts. Rescuers have broken down the debris field into a grid and were systematically searching through it for survivors with sonar, cameras and K-9s.
“Our objective here is to bring these people out of that rubble and to support the families,” said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. “That’s all there is to it.”
The mayor said he had received calls from numerous congressional leaders, including both of Florida’s senators as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Biden.
Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, also at the news briefing, thanked first responders and rescue teams from across the state and world. He said many victims in the building were visiting from overseas and that the State Department was helping their families fast-track visas so they can travel to the U.S. as the search and rescue effort continues.
{{#rendered}}FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will visit the Surfside condo complex collapse site outside Miami Sunday at the request of President Biden, she said on Twitter.
" My heart is with the affected residents and the families still waiting for news about their loved ones," she wrote, shortly after the official death toll had risen to at least 5.
“Today our search and rescue teams found another body in the rubble,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a Saturday evening news conference.
The death toll has risen to five, with just three victims identified so far, she added. The amount of building residents who remain unaccounted has dropped to 156.
Rescuers were being assisted by other agencies from around the state, federal assets and international teams from Israel and Mexico.
The search and rescue mission remains very active, the mayor said.
Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Chief George Alvarez told victims' families Saturday during a twice-daily briefing that authorities had recovered more human remains from the Champlain Towers South collapse, according to local media.
{{#rendered}}"My heart is with the community of Surfside as they grieve their lost loved ones and wait anxiously as search and rescue efforts continue," President Biden tweeted Saturday evening. "Yesterday I spoke with Gov. DeSantis to let him know that we are ready to provide assistance as needed by state and local officials."
The Fox-affiliated WSVN 7 News appeared to pick up the removal of a laden stretcher from the Champlain Towers collapse site Saturday evening into the back of a white van.
Around the same time, journalist Steve Lookner tweeted about hearing "HR pulled" over the police scanner, possibly indicating human remains.
Authorities did not immediately confirm the recovery.
The Miami-Dade Police Department announced Saturday afternoon that they would be upping staffing by canceling vacation time and increasing shifts to 12 hours under "Alpha/Bravo" protocols beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Similar contingency plans, which are meant to facilitate large-scale emergency responses, have briefly been implemented in a number of cities around the country facing social justice protests in recent months.
{{#rendered}}Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that residents of the Champlain Towers’ sister building near Miami may need to evacuate out of an abundance of caution as investigators have yet to determine the cause of the South building’s unexpected collapse Thursday morning.
Investigators have not yet dug into the rubble to determine a cause of the collapse, but experts have floated a few possibilities. Some ideas include structural damage over time that could have weakened the edifice or something undermining the foundation, causing it to give out. Read more.
"For any buildings located within our cities, we urge the municipalities to do their own aggressive review. We will work closely with them and offer any and all assistance necessary to conduct these audits," she wrote in a Twitter thread Saturday. "Regarding other buildings by this developer or contractor built in the same time period, we will work with the cities in which these buildings are located to provide technical assistance and to identify any possible state and federal funding to conduct these safety inspections."
The Miami-Dade County mayor ordered an audit of all residential buildings of five or more stories built 40 years ago or before within the next 30 days.
An official cause of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building has not yet been determined, but experts have floated a number of possibilities, including that a sinkhole may have opened up beneath it or that wear and tear over time had degraded its structural integrity.
A building inspector from Surfside Florida, an oceanfront town in Miami-Dade County, was on the roof of the Champlain Towers South condo complex just hours before two wings of the building came crashing down early Thursday morning, according to a new report.
{{#rendered}}The fire that has burned in the Champlain Tower South rubble site remains a constant source of concern, hampering efforts to remove rubble and locate possible survivors.
Fire Rescue crews have been unable to locate the source of the fire within the site, forcing them to use infrared technology, water and foam to fight the blaze and contain it.
The smoke complicates rescue efforts, and the blaze threatens to weaken the already unstable rubble.
“We’re facing very incredible difficulties with this fire. It’s a very deep fire. It’s extremely difficult to locate the source of the fire," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Cava said during the mid-morning press conference.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gov. DeSantis confirmed that another building "down the street" from Champlain Towers was developed by the same group. Similarities between the two buildings may lead officials to order an evacuation of the other building.
DeSantis and Mayor Cava said that decision was for Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, who was not present at the press conference.
The fire issue has diverted attention and resources, but Miami-Dade Fire Rescue still "believes" that people could remain alive inside the debris.
Mayor Cava said that "as long as there air and water," people could remain alive inside the debris. However, Fire Chief Alan Cominsky confirmed that rescue workers have not seen any signs of life.
"The biggest thing here is hope," Cominsky said. "That's what's driving my decision right now ... It's an extremely difficult situation.
To read more about how long a victim might survive under rubble, click here.
{{#rendered}}Mayor Cava explained that the most significant complicating factor in search and rescue efforts is a fire that has burned since the initial collapse.
Firefighters have struggled to locate the source of the fire, partially due to smoke. They are employing infrared technology to try and find the source, but progress is slow.
The rescue workers have dug a trench to enable clearance efforts, as well as to allow firefighters to continue fighting the fire.
The number of people remains 127 accounted for, 159 unaccounted for and 4 confirmed dead, Mayor Daniella Cava said during the 10:30 a.m. press conference.
She also revealed that the county will divert all resources to examining buildings in the 40-year certification range and audit buildings in the area to ensure safety standards are up to grade.
"We want to make sure we can work with the cities to provide the technical assistance they need ... to assist with safety inspections," Cava said, appealing for the public to continue supporting the victims.
Surfside officials released a number of documents online Friday night, including a 2018 safety report commissioned by the Champlain Towers Condominium Board.
The report, carried out by Murabito Consultants, Inc., did not warn of any risk of collapse, but it noted the need for repairs to maintain the "structural integrity" of the building.
The report noted a number of issues, citing previous complaints of flooding "during a hurricane event," possible structural damage to balconies and cracks in the concrete of unit balconies.
READ MORE HERE.
{{#rendered}}The Miami-Dade Police Department advised that city and town leadership will provide an update on search and rescue efforts at a 10:30 a.m. press conference.
Miami-Dade Mayor Cava posted a picture earlier this morning showing a strategy meeting between federal, state and local leadership, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis.
Much of the speculation as to what cause the collapse of Champlain Towers South focuses on possible safety issues, particularly with a 40-year inspection due this year.
Mayor Charles Burkett confirmed that the Condo Board that runs the complex had not yet submitted the recertification.
"It was due this year, and we had not received it," Burkett told a local reporter. "Our building official said he was told it was on its way and would be submitted."
Mayor Cava explained the difficulty that rescue workers have faced while working through Friday night.
"They've had to deal with a lot of water from the rain, there's a fire they've had to continuously put out, so many things have hampered their abilities," Cava told a WSVN 7 reporter. "Nevertheless, you can see that they're very active above and below, and that continued throughout the night."
Cava also explained the very methodical approach rescue workers have taken to progress into the wreckage, laying out a grid to carefully map out he site and remove dangerous rubble.
{{#rendered}}Mayor Daniella Levine Cava spoke with a local Miami reporter to confirm that numbers of found, missing and confirmed deceased individuals have not changed.
"We're standing with them, we know how hard it is for them," Cava said in reference to rescue workers. "These are people who have - their whole career is saving people. They are highly motivated."
"They have hope, and they are proceeding, and so we stand with them," Cava added.
The search and rescue operation at the Surfside condo complex collapse site continued Friday night, with the situation largely unchanged going into Saturday morning.
At least 159 people are still unaccounted for, with at least four people dead after three victims were pulled from the rubble.
Only one deceased victim has been identified: Stacie Fang, 54, whose son was seen in dramatic video when rescue workers pulled him from the rubble alive.
An investigation into the cause of the collapse has not yet begun, but many have already started speculating. A federal probe will likely follow the completion of any search and rescue or recovery operations.
READ MORE HERE.
Coverage for this event has ended.