Balcony collapses in Mountain View, sending occupants scrambling to safety

A balcony collapsed at a two-story, 42-unit condominium complex in Mountain View, Calif., shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, but all five people on it managed to escape serious injury, authorities said.

The second-story porch separated from the exterior wall of a building in the 50 block of East Middlefield Road before crashing to the ground, according to the Mountain View Fire Department. Several people were on the balcony when it started to fall, but everyone managed to run back inside the condo and were there when firefighters arrived.

Officials treated one person for minor injuries. No one was below the deck when the balcony fell.

The homeowners association “had obtained permits to perform voluntary replacement of decks in 2016 due to dry rot; a handful of units have completed the work on that project. The balcony that collapsed was not a unit earmarked for replacement,” Mountain View’s chief building official Shellie Woodworth wrote in a statement.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation. Woodworth said the city is making a recommendation to the homeowners association and each unit owner that a California-licensed engineer or architect evaluate the remaining decks to confirm that there are no other issues.

The complex was built in 1970 as an apartment complex and converted into a condominium complex in 1979. Leilani Maningo, the owner of the condominium, told NBC News that the wooden balcony was part of the original structure. Maningo said five people were on the balcony when it fell: One was standing and four others were sitting in chairs. All managed to escape the crash.