BRIDGEPORT — The owner of a house that spontaneously collapsed late Thursday is crediting neighbors with rescuing her mother from the crumbling home.
"They sprang into action, let me tell you," said Joanne Cozzo, who owns the red brick home in the 3600 block of South Lowe Avenue where her 79-year-old mother resides.
Cozzo said she just left the house to walk to her own home, located just up the street, when she heard a giant booming sound around 10 p.m.
"I thought there was an explosion. Then I thought, 'Oh my God, my mother,'" Cozzo said.
She turned around to see the porch's roof collapsed into the home's front yard, with another part of the roof falling into a next-door gangway.
Neighbors convened outside to see what happened.
A few rushed past the debris and into the home to rescue the Cozzo's mother, who was able to walk out unscathed, if not a little shook up.
Outside of the home on Friday, Cozzo and her husband could only watch as the home, which the Chicago Fire Department said is "well over a hundred years old," continued to crumble, with bricks raining down, causing the roof to shift even further.
The house, along with those on either side of it, remained evacuated Friday. Cozzo said it's unclear if she'll be allowed back in to retrieve anything from inside the home.
"We don't know. We've just been waiting," she said.
A message to the city's buildings department was not immediately returned.
