DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Officials said a woman fell through the porch and into an old coal chute room of a home Wednesday in Dayton.
The incident happened in the 1400 block of Hochwalt Avenue Wednesday afternoon.
In a 911 call, a resident of the home tells a dispatcher: “The porch just caved in and a visitor just fell into the cellar. And we don’t know if she’s hurt.”
In the call, the visitor who fell through the hole can be heard saying she was bleeding from her arm. The woman was taken to Miami Valley Hospital with minor injuries.
“The concrete was old and was falling into the basement, falling apart. The front porch was deteriorating. She just happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lieutenant Jason King with the Dayton Fire Department said.
King said a building inspector was called to look at the property.
“Usually when we call building inspection, it’s because a car has gone into a building. (Buildings) usually just don’t fall down on their own so this is unusual,” King said.
One neighbor watching as firefighters arrived said something similar once happened at her mother’s home.
” (You shouldn’t) have to worry about falling through a hole on a porch when you’re coming to visit somebody,” Erika, who preferred to withhold her first name, said.
She said landlords in the area need to do a better job at maintaining their properties.
