In June 2021, the 13-story section of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, collapsed and the devastating incident is still under investigation. To this day, many people still have unanswered questions about what caused the fatal event. That’s why the Miami Herald and Treefort Media have teamed up for a new podcast called “Collapse: Disaster in Surfside.”
The series investigates the unexpected disaster that killed 98 people in Surfside – a town just outside of Miami Beach. The collapse was the third-deadliest structural engineering failure in United States’ history.
“This story made headlines around the world, but it’s never been told from the inside out — until now,” shares Treefort Media’s Lisa Ammerman, who is an executive producer on the podcast.
Treefort Media’s partnership with the Miami Herald will give listeners exclusive access to the team of journalists currently pursuing this ongoing investigation. Reporters and editors from the publication will also give listeners their firsthand account of what it was like to cover the local tragedy in real-time and what the scene was like on-site.
The 12-part series will investigate what went wrong, who’s at fault and whether what happened at Surfside could happen somewhere else in the future. Experts will address how the building was plagued by structural issues and design flaws while also sharing the history of the building’s developers.
In each episode, listeners will hear directly from journalists, survivors, eyewitnesses, first responders and experts. The podcast will also share 911 calls, police body camera recordings and surveillance footage from the incident, taking the audience through the search for those who went missing in the rubble – while also sharing private briefings that family members of the victims received.
“Collapse: Disaster in Surfside” premieres on March 9. Each episode runs for half-hour. You can stream new episodes on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon.