A woman was injured late Friday night when part of a sidewalk leading to a Dorchester church’s entryway collapsed, causing her to fall about 10 feet into the building’s basement, according to the Boston Fire Department.
Crews were able to rescue the woman, who was taken to a hospital by Boston EMS with what were described as non-life-threatening injuries, the fire department said in a social media post.
The sidewalk segment that collapsed was part of an entry threshold at Bethlehem Healing Temple Church at 428 Blue Hill Ave., near the corner of Stanwood Street, according to the firefighters’ posting.
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Boston firefighters received a report a few minutes after 11 p.m. that a sidewalk had collapsed and a person had fallen through it, according to fire department radio calls recorded by Broadcastify.com.
Responding firefighters and EMTs at the scene reported they found a woman who had plunged about 10 feet into a basement area. One first responder told dispatchers the woman appeared to have suffered a broken leg.
Crews were able to take the woman out of the basement using a door on the building’s rear side, according to the radio calls. She was then taken by Boston EMS to a local hospital.
A building inspector from the city’s Inspectional Services Department also responded to the incident, and found that a portion of the building had been compromised, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu Saturday morning.
Electricity to the building was turned off, and the inspector asked the church to use a licensed structural engineer to examine the building, and file a report with the Inspectional Services Department, according to Wu’s office.
The church had been due for demolition in 2022, according to the church’s website, which had posted an image of the building with jersey barriers and a chain link fence along the sidewalk in front of the church. A spray painted X inside a box was visible on the façade.
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“This project will be done in stages. We are working to minimize inconvenience and will appreciate your patience,” a message on the website read.
Church services were being conducted at other locations, the website said.
Representatives of the church did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Companies were able to extricate a person who fell approximately 10 feet when the threshold of the building collapsed at 428 Blue Hill Ave, a hollow sidewalk leading into the building. The person was transported by @BOSTON_EMS with non life threatening injuries. pic.twitter.com/zroNNMnZVb
— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) August 19, 2023
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.