As St. Patrick’s Day dawned Monday in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, there were remnants of the revelry gone awry that left more than a dozen University of Pittsburgh students hurt when a porch roof collapsed during a daytime party Friday.
Students partied throughout the weekend following the collapse, although it left some shaken by what they had witnessed.
The rubble of the porch remained in a heap. Students appeared to have resumed their normal schedules.
Many of the surrounding houses had remnants of decorations hanging from windows and porches. Empty alcohol cans and other rubbish was strewn along the sidewalks.
In the back area of the rowhouses in the 300 block of Semple Street, large wooden beams and pieces of the roof remained on the ground and covered the back porch. Red Solo cups, streamers and other green party favors were also scattered across the cemented area.
Several students cut through the alleyway on their way to class. But none stopped to take a long look at the rubble.
The people who lived in the rowhouse declined comment. The Robert K. Erickson Trust owns the property, according to county tax records. Its representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
One of the people who was at Friday’s party shared their story with TribLive.
Pitt senior Aubrey Silber said she was standing in the backyard of a neighboring house.
Silber said she had her back turned away from the roof when it initially began to fall, but she saw the second half of it collapse, as smoke and debris flew through the air.
“Everyone’s eyes kind of bugged out,” she said. “My first reaction was people are dead.”
Despite having students trapped under it, including a few of Silber’s friends, she said the roof had fallen so quickly that it looked almost completely flat to the ground.
Silber said that all her friends were checked but weren’t hurt badly.
The sister of one of her friends required surgery, Silber said.
She wondered if the girl will be able to walk for graduation.
“I saw her get stretchered off and her leg was in a rubber blanket. That’s when I knew it was her,” Silber said.
Because people had been drinking, Silber said, it was a few minutes before everyone realized what had happened and they began looking for their friends.
“People stayed because everyone was confused on what to do,” she said. “It was horrifying.”
No citations were issued from the party, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Emily Bourne said.
A condemnation notice posted on the back door for the porch was issued by the city’s department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections. The city workers and City Councilman Bob Charland, whose district includes that part of Oakland, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In an unrelated incident, a man was shot in the city’s South Side early Sunday morning as the weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day parties were ending. The man who was shot was in stable condition and a Clairton man was charged in connection with the shooting.
In 2023, 12 people were hurt when a section of an apartment building in White Township near but not on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania collapsed during a IUPatty’s party.
Related:
• St. Patrick's Day gatherings continue in Oakland (but not on roofs)
• Porch roof collapse in Oakland sends revelers crashing onto people below
• Clairton man charged in South Side shooting