3 people killed, 9 injured in hangar collapse on grounds of Boise airport
BOISE, Idaho — A hangar under construction on the grounds of the airport in Boise, Idaho, collapsed Wednesday, killing three people and injuring another nine, officials said.
Five of those injured in the collapse at the Boise Airport are in critical condition, the city said in a statement released Wednesday night.
Authorities responded at about 5 p.m. to the privately owned steel-framed hangar, which suffered a “catastrophic” collapse, Boise Fire Department Operations Chief Aaron Hummel said during an earlier news briefing.
Everyone who had been at the site had been accounted for as of Wednesday evening, he said.
The city statement said that the three people killed died at the scene. It said that responding fire crews worked to stabilize the scene and rescued multiple victims.
“It was a very chaotic scene,” Hummel said, describing the incident as a “large-scale collapse” of the framework of the building. “I don’t know what caused it, but I can tell you it was a pretty global collapse,” he said.
Boise Airport operations were not impacted, officials said.
Terra Furman was driving on Interstate 84 at about 5:30 p.m. when she spotted at least 20 police cars, ambulances and firetrucks about a quarter mile from the entry to the airport. They were around what she described as a crane folded in half and a building collapsed into the shape of an ‘M.’
“The walls were still up at a point and the middle collapsed in on either side,” she said.
Hummel said some of the victims were on a hoist or other elevated platform at the time the structure fell, and that required some specialized rescue efforts. He confirmed that a crane also collapsed in the incident.
Authorities are investigating what caused the collapse. It happened next to Jackson Jet Center, which offers private airplane charters and maintenance.
Boise city records show Big D Builders had obtained permits to build a 39,000-square-foot jet hangar for Jackson Jet Center.