A college homecoming celebration turned chaotic Friday night after a rear deck collapsed at a Virginia residence, injuring at least 28 people and prompting a major emergency response.
William & Mary said some of the injured were students at the university. The collapse occurred at an off-campus home in Williamsburg, and city officials said none of the reported injuries were life-threatening.
Authorities received a call about a structural collapse at approximately 10:07 p.m. in the 200 block of Matoaka Court. Police officers and firefighters arrived to find that the home’s back deck had given way, according to the city.
Thirteen people were transported to hospitals by emergency crews, while 15 others reportedly made their own way to receive medical care, the city said in an update Saturday morning.
Neighbors told WAVY that a homecoming party was taking place when the deck collapsed. One resident said emergency vehicles quickly filled the surrounding streets.
“All the way down the street and wrapped around just ambulances and fire trucks,” the neighbor, who requested anonymity, told WAVY. “We saw a lot of hospital gurneys coming out of ambulances. At least nine ambulances kind of wrapped around the street.”
Joshua Wise, who lives next door, told the station that some of his classmates were caught up in the incident. By the time he returned home, the emergency response had ended, but he learned that his housemate had been helping people get home.
“Word was traveling pretty fast,” Wise told WAVY.
“By the time I got back here, the emergency response was over, but I had a housemate who was helping people, trying to help out as much as possible, drive people home, get people where they needed to be.”
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Wise said neighbors rallied to support one another in the aftermath of the collapse.
“We did everything we could to help each other out and I think that that’s beautiful,” he said.
In a message sent to the campus community Saturday, Ginger Ambler, William & Mary’s senior vice president for student affairs and public safety, said university officials were continuing to collect information. She cautioned that additional students may have sought medical attention beyond those included in the initial count.
“We are grateful that none of the injuries were life-threatening,” Ambler wrote.
Ambler said teams from the university’s health, academic and student support departments were working to help students affected by the incident.
“We recognize that such an experience may affect our students deeply and in different ways,” Ambler wrote.
Wise also commended the speed and professionalism of the first responders.
“Thank goodness for the emergency responders,” he told WAVY. “They were great. The ambulances and everything got here pretty fast.”
Local police and fire crews responded to the scene, while city officials worked with nearby hospitals to establish the final number of people treated.
Williamsburg’s Codes Compliance Division is reviewing the property and conducting an inspection of the collapse site.