Fire at The Avalon construction site causes crane to collapse

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A fire at a construction site in Alpharetta caused a crane to collapse and sent a plume of black smoke over North Fulton County Tuesday.

Channel 2's Mike Petchenik was the only reporter at The Avalon development on Old Milton Parkway when the crane buckled and collapsed in the flames right in front of him.

Viewer Tim Drury caught the whole collapse on camera and shared the video with us. Across the street, our photographer Benjamin Watson shot video of the same moment the crane collapsed.

NewsChopper 2 was over the scene, where the large crane was pitched over on its side.

A ppokesperson for The Avalon said the crane was there to dig deep in the ground and build a foundation for a new parking deck.

No one was injured, according to Alpharetta Public Safety's Howard Miller.

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"We've got a lot of shoppers here at the Avalon, a lot of kids, families walking around, so fortunately no injuries to them and thankfully the operator of the crane," Howard said.

Fire investigators are working to figure out the cause of the blaze. A representative said that OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency and Alpharetta Fire's HAZMAT teams are all working to fix the damage and figure out what happened.

The Avalon released a statement, saying:

“The Alpharetta Fire Department has extinguished the fire on the construction site of 10000 Avalon. We are thankful there were no injuries. This was an isolated incident caused by an equipment malfunction on a crane. There is no property damage beyond the crane itself. The adjacent parking deck and 1st Street are temporarily closed. Avalon remains open and accessible to the community.”

Cox Media Group