Frat house porch overhang collapses injuring students

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Several Georgia College & State University students reportedly were injured early Saturday after a porch overhang of a fraternity house collapsed and plummeted them to the ground, local authorities say.

The mishap occurred about 2:30 a.m. at a two-story wood-frame and brick structure located at 211 S. Wilkinson St. in Milledgeville.

Milledgeville Fire Rescue Services Lt. Rodney Hines said the 911 emergency call came out as a structure collapse with multiple injuries.

“The first thing we think about in a situation like that is mass casualties,” Hines said. “So, on a call like that you want all hands on deck because that could range from two to 30. You have no idea until you actually get to the scene and discover exactly how many have been injured.”

He said the mishap occurred when students sat on the overhang ledge that later collapsed apparently due to the weight of the students perched on it.

“When we got there, the overhang of the roof that connects to the pitch of the roof had broken off,” Hines told The Union-Recorder in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “It broke off right on the connection point. The beams that were hooked onto the truss broke off.”

Seven firefighters responded to the scene, as did several officers with the Milledgeville Police Department, including Maj. Linc Boyer, commander of the road patrol division.

“The P.D. had already arrived there and they were already assisting some of those who had been injured,” Hines said. “When we arrived we began assisting some of those who were injured as well.”

Hines said firefighters and police officers began separating those injured by the severity of their injuries.

“Within about 10 minutes of getting everybody separated based on the type of injury they had received, personnel from Atrium Health Navicent Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene,” Hines said.

A young woman was one of the more seriously injured individuals.

“We placed her on a stretcher and put her in an ambulance,” Hines said.

She sustained a broken ankle along with a sprained knee and a laceration to the lower part of one of her legs. She also injured her back.

She was later taken to Atrium Health Navicent, The Medical Center in Macon.

Firefighters also encountered a male student who sustained a broken wrist.

“It was severely broken,” Hines said.

He was later taken to the emergency department of Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin hospital in Milledgeville.

Hines said several others reportedly drove themselves in personal vehicles to seek medical attention at the local hospital.

“A lot of them actually jumped in their own vehicles and did that before we ever made it to the scene,” Hines said.

Firefighters treated two of the injured college students.