SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) – South Florida is marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic condominium collapse in Surfside by honoring the victims\u2019 memories.<\/p>\n
Loved ones gathered early Wednesday morning at 98 Points of Light Way to honor the 98 souls who perished when a nightmare unfolded at 1:15 a.m. on June 24, 2021.<\/p>\n
The Champlain Towers South condo crumbled where it had stood for 40 years, changing the lives of countless families, first responders and the entire community.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s lighting of the torch, let it be a symbol of remembrance, of resiliency and hope,\u201d said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Ray Jadallah.<\/p>\n
Among the survivors who attended the overnight remembrance was Devin Gonzalez, who fell out of Apartment 904. Her father, Edgar Gonzalez, did not make it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing, honestly, that we can do is just to look at the mistakes from the past and make sure that we don\u2019t make them again,\u201d said Devin.<\/p>\n
The lighting of the torch at 98 Points of Light Way comes two days after a federal group of investigators released their findings<\/a> on the likely cause of the collapse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have concluded that the failure most likely began in early June, about three weeks before the collapse, when two connections between garage columns and the pool deck slab failed,\u201d said Judith Mitrani-Reiser, co-lead investigator with the National Institute of Standards and Technology\u2019s National Construction Safety Team.<\/p>\n NIST-NCST\u2019s report blames a combination of design and construction issues, as well as environmental factors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found no evidence of any specific initiating event. The final factor that brought the critically low margins of safety to the point of failure was most likely long-term degradation from corrosion,\u201d said Glenn Bell, another co-lead investigator with NIST-NCST.<\/p>\n