SURFSIDE, Fla. -- Demolition crews set off explosives late Sunday taking down the damaged portion of a partially collapsed south Florida condo building, something seen as a key step in allowing access to new areas of the rubble as rescuers resume searching for victims.
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Soon after, crews were to begin clearing some of the new debris in hopes of accessing for the first time parts of the underground garage that are a focus of interest, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said. That could give a clearer picture of any voids that might exist in the rubble that could be harboring survivors.
No one has been found alive since the first hours after the disaster. So far, rescuers have found the remains of 24 people, with 121 still missing.
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Search efforts were suspended Saturday to allow demolition workers to drill holes for the explosives needed to implode the damaged Surfside building.
A Miami-Dade fire official said previously that search teams could resume their work between 15 and 60 minutes after the demolition.
The decision to demolish the Surfside building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below and preventing them from operating in some areas. The approach of Tropical Storm Elsa added urgency to the demolition project.
"Bringing down this building in a controlled manner is critical to expanding the scope of our search-and-rescue effort," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Sunday before the demolition.
The demolition plan called for using small, strategically placed detonations as part of a technique known as "energetic felling" that also relies on the force of gravity to take the building down. Levine Cava said the collapse was confined to the immediate area, though she had advised nearby residents to keep windows closed during the demolition to avoid dust.
Up to 210 rescuers were poised to restart the search for victims as soon as the site was declared safe after the blast, Jadallah said.
The search at the partially collapsed Surfside building was suspended Saturday afternoon so workers could conduct the drilling work. Jadallah said the suspension was necessary because the drilling could cause the structure to fail, but a family member could be heard calling that news "devastating."
The Miami-Dade Police Department on Saturday night added Graciela Cattarossi, 48, and Gonzalo Torre, 81, to the list of people confirmed dead.
Work to remove the new debris began immediately, Jadallah said. Despite the dwindling chance that anyone remains alive in the rubble, officials have pledged to keep looking.
"There's nobody in charge really talking about stopping this rescue effort," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
"This rescue effort, as far as I'm concerned, will go on until everybody is pulled out of that debris."
Officials began considering the demolition at Champlain Towers on Thursday when parts of the remaining building shifted, endangering rescuers and prompting a 15-hour suspension in their work.
Search crews had been able to access only a fraction of the debris pile since then.
"This demolition is going to open up a whole area, so we'll be able to pour more resources onto the pile," Burkett said. "We are going to attack it big time."
The approach of Tropical Storm Elsa added urgency to workers' plans, with forecasts suggesting that there could be strong winds in the Surfside today. Later forecasters' predictions shifted the storm westward, mostly sparing south Florida, but National Hurricane Center meteorologist Robert Molleda said the area could still feel the effects.
"We're expecting primarily tropical storm force gusts," Molleda said, referring to gusts above 40 mph.
The detonation took the remaining portion of the building straight down and toward the street side, away from the existing pile of debris, Jadallah said.
State officials said they hired the BG Group, a general contractor based in Delray, Fla., to lead the demolition. They did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how the firm was selected, but a contract for the projects calls for the state to pay the company $935,000.
A spokesperson for the state's Division of Emergency Management said the company is subcontracting with Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc., which experts say is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that demolishes structures using explosives. The company placed explosives on the basement and lobby levels of the still-standing structure, according to the contract for the work.
Controlled Demolition Inc. is "probably one of the best" in the industry, said Steve Schwartz, a member of the National Demolition Association's board of directors. He described the company's president and owner, Mark Loizeaux, as "cool, calm and collected."
In implosions -- using explosives to have a building fall in on itself -- the charges are set off in rapid succession over a matter of seconds, said Scott Homrich, who heads the National Demolition Association and runs his own demolition company in Detroit. Setting the explosives off at intervals serves to break up the building at the same time it's coming down.
As the demolition neared, some people expressed concern for any pets that might have been left behind as residents fled in panic after the collapse. Firefighters for days have tried to save animals in the building, including using drones to survey the remaining units, but have not found any sign of the missing animals. By late Sunday, more than 14,000 people had signed an online petition to halt the demolition until all the animals are rescued.
"We've been actively searching for days for any pets that remain in the building," Levine Cava said. "We know these are family members."
Officials acknowledged that the tragedy is continuing to unfold.
"This July 4 we're reminded that patriotism isn't just about loyalty to country," said Levine Cava. "It's about loyalty to one another -- to our communities, to those in need whose names or stories we may not know ever, but to whom we are connected by compassion and by resilience."
Information for this article was contributed by Adriana Gomez Licon, Terry Spencer, Rebecca Santana, Bobby Caina Calvan, Sudhin Thanawala and Ian Mader of The Associated Press; and by Kim Bellware, Brittany Shammas and Nick Miroff of The Washington Post.
