ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – An apartment building is being evacuated in the Dr. Phillips area because of a structural issue that the county determined to be dangerous.
The building is The Rialto, along West Sand Lake Road near Turkey Lake Road.
According to Orange County Fire Rescue, they received a call from a resident who said she couldn’t open her front door and heard popping noises that made her think the building was collapsing.
When crews arrived, they found signs of structural instability and had to force the resident’s door open to get them out. That’s when they began evacuating the building.
Over 200 people were evacuated, according to Fire Rescue Division Chief William Farhat. They are working to find places for those people to stay.
Gilbert Mercado, Orange County’s deputy chief building inspector, said when they walked the building, they found obvious signs of fresh cracking through the drywall, which got progressively worse as they went up the building’s floors.
Businesses in the building are also being evacuated.
News 6 has a crew at the scene. This is a developing story; check back for updates.