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Whitney: Building collapse survivor — 'Am I going to die?'

Stu Whitney
swhitney@argusleader.com
Emily Fodness survived the Copper Lounge building collapse after being trapped for three hours, poses for a portrait Monday.

Editor's note: This story originally was posted Dec. 21, 2016. 

Sometimes Emily Fodness pretends that it never happened, that her comfortable world didn’t cave beneath her and send her tumbling down to Earth.

As a celebrated survivor of the Dec. 2 building collapse in downtown Sioux Falls that made national headlines and took the life of construction worker Ethan McMahon, Fodness knows that such normalcy is not possible these days.

“It’s all very surreal,” says the 22-year-old Harrisburg High School graduate, who spoke to Argus Leader Media this week about her harrowing ordeal. “You try to wake up like it’s any other day, but that’s pretty hard right now.”

Fodness was sleeping that day in her family’s third-story loft above the former Copper Lounge on the corner of 10th and Phillips, where construction crews worked to convert the street-level bar into a drugstore.

MORE:Complete building collapse coverage

The 100-year-old building buckled as a load-bearing wall was reportedly being removed, caving in Fodness’ bedroom floor and burying her beneath the rubble, where she remained for three hours in freezing temperatures before being rescued by firefighters.

Her three dogs – a Siberian Husky, Nova, and two beagles, Molly and Mia – were all ultimately rescued by a cadre of first responders in a dramatic series of events that captivated onlookers, highlighted heroes and was darkened by tragedy.

MORE:One year after tragedy, Ethan McMahon's impact shines

“At one point I asked, ‘Am I going to die?’” recalls Fodness. “And I was told, ‘No, we’re getting you out.’”

Trauma from the collapse still lingers for Fodness, who walks on crutches and undergoes physical therapy for her hips and legs. She has bad dreams and gets skittish at the sound of sirens.

Her family lost nearly all its possessions and faces a lengthy process of insurance claims and legal entanglements. With her parents and the youngest of her three brothers, Fodness lives in a twin home in southern Sioux Falls and hopes to resume classes this spring to become a nurse.

Emergency personnel on scene after the Copper Lounge building collapse Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in downtown Sioux Falls.

The death of McMahon, a 24-year-old former Marine who had two children, haunts her as she considers how their fates intertwined, but with a different outcome.

“I’m grateful that I’m here, but I’m mourning the life that was lost,” Fodness said. “We will be forever attached because of what happened. Then you sort of think, Why? I’m thankful that I got out, but I wish the story was different with Ethan.”

For now, Fodness’ classes and her job as a server and bartender at Texas Roadhouse are on hold as she heals. She cherishes time with her boyfriend, Harun Hadzimujic, and also her dogs, who provide her with glimpses of the life that existed before.

“I had a moment the other day where I was just watching TV, because it was too cold to go anywhere, and I had all three dogs on my bed with me,” says Fodness. “I appreciate those moments so much more since this happened. All of us were in there and we’re all still here, and that felt pretty good.”

Rumble and roar

Mike and Chris Fodness moved into the loft above Copper Lounge in October of 2015, after Mike heard about the three-bedroom space from Tim Kant, a family friend who owned the building at the time.

The Zombie Walk took place the very day they moved in, and they had a perfect vantage point for Parade of Lights and other Phillips Avenue events. Being so close to the downtown bustle had a big-city feel that made them feel more alive.

“It was a million dollar view and a very comfortable home,” says Mike, 51, who works as food and beverage director for GreatLife Golf and Fitness.

When Emily changed course on her college path and decided to study nursing in Sioux Falls, she moved in with her parents in January, with brother Kirby living there as well.

“It was exciting and fun,” says Emily, who graduated from high school in 2013. “It was nice to be able to go out downtown and not have to worry about a ride. I know my friends enjoyed it. Once PAve (the adjacent bar) opened, we could just walk next door.”

That’s where Emily was on Dec. 1, celebrating a friend’s birthday on a festive Thursday night that seemed to highlight the appeal of her current living arrangement, despite the ongoing renovations.

Emergency personnel on scene after the Copper Lounge building collapse Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in downtown Sioux Falls.

She came home and made herself a snack in the kitchen before crawling into bed with Nova, the 2-year-old Husky. Her 4-year-old beagle, Molly, who usually slept with Mike and Chris, also spent the night in Emily’s bedroom, located toward the back of the apartment.

The next morning, Emily got up early but went back to bed because of her job working nights. Around 10:30 a.m., she was awakened by a noise that startled, confused and annoyed her. She was accustomed to construction noise, but this seemed different.

“It was a loud rumbling, louder than I was used to,” she says. “I had a feeling that it had something to do with the construction, but I knew something wasn’t right. I remember turning in my bed and being a little freaked out and a little mad, just thinking, ‘What is that?’

“So while I was turning over in bed, just waking up, I looked and saw that my floor was collapsing. My bed is one corner, and the floor started caving in the opposite corner. I remember trying to hold onto anything while I was going down toward the center of the room. So my mattress tipped downward at its corner, and me and my dog fell before the mattress fell.”

Moments later, Emily was laying within mounds of rubble, surrounded by darkness with her bedding and mattress above her. She felt more confusion than pain at that point, which she attributes to the adrenaline of the moment.

Copper Lounge collapse leaves behind legal morass

“I could hear things piling on top of me,” she says. “I just thought that my floor fell on me. I didn’t know that the whole building came down. Over my face and half my torso was my bedding and my mattress was over that. To my right I just felt concrete and a wooden board.”

One of her saving graces was a diminutive 5-foot-4, 120-pound body that fit into a pocketed space, where larger bodies might have incurred damage. Another benefit was her iPhone, which was charged and did not shatter in the collapse.

Emily didn’t have the phone in her hand before the fall but it somehow ended up within her limited grasp. After no one responded to her repeated shouts, she heard a familiar ring tone.

“I silenced myself and tried to figure out where my phone was,” she recalls. “I pinpointed it to where it was underneath me, and I could use my right arm just enough to reach it. I thought to myself, ‘If you want to get out of here, grab your phone.’

“Once I got it, I saw that I had seven or eight missed calls. I ended up getting a hold of my mom because she was just leaving work and had heard what happened. She said, ‘Honey, where are you?’  And I said, ‘Mom, I’m underneath everything. I’m underneath the rubble.’”

Nightmare unfolds

Mike Fodness was enjoying a cigar at Eastwold Smoke Shop with longtime manager Jerry Bowman when he heard a thunderous crash, just minutes before he planned to head back up to the loft for a shower.

When dust started flying into the store, he stepped onto the sidewalk on 10th Street and was horrified by what he saw.

“It looked like 9/11,” he says. “There was this white-gray haze all around, and the longstanding tree from the sidewalk was laying in the street. Parking meters were sheared off and cars were covered in red brick. I heard the fire alarm from PAve going off with automated verbal commands, and there were bricks everywhere.”

He called 911 to report the disaster and then phoned his wife.

“Chrissy, our building collapsed,” he told her. “Who’s at home?”

“Honey,” she responded, “Emily Ann is there.”

Those were precisely the words that he didn't want to hear.

“No thoughts can describe how you feel when something like that is taking place,” he says. “It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life. When I looked up to where her bedroom was, there was no ‘up’ there. It was sky above and rubble below, and I lost it.”

Emergency personnel on scene after the Copper Lounge building collapse Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, in downtown Sioux Falls.

Chris was out the door at that point, leaving her job at Avera Home Medical Equipment on Minnesota Avenue to race to the scene. After several calls to Emily went unanswered, the sight of her daughter’s name and number popping up on caller ID brought tears to her eyes, but the saga was just beginning.

“I parked as close as I could while on the phone with her, and I told her, ‘I’m trying to run to you now,’” says Chris. “When I saw that building and the total collapse, I just sort of stopped, realizing everything that was on top of her. But I didn’t want her to know how bad it was.

“I found Mike and the police moved us across the street, and Emily was saying to me, ‘You’ve got to get me out of here, Mom.’ So I started running toward the firemen saying, ‘My daughter’s in there! You’ve got to get her out!’”

As word spread through media and family messages, Emily’s three brothers arrived on the scene as well as her boyfriend, who stopped his car and wept when he saw the extent of the damage before gathering himself.

Mike’s sisters and Chris’ former co-workers at the downtown Avera building showed up to lend support, joining a throng of onlookers hoping for a positive outcome.

As crews worked to assess the integrity of surrounding walls, Sioux Falls Fire Chief Jim Sideras approached the family and said they were using caution because two rescue missions were taking place at the same time.

“That’s when we knew there was someone else involved,” says Chris.

Search for daylight

As firefighters struggled to learn the whereabouts of McMahon, the construction worker, they closed in on Emily through phone conversations and discussions about the apartment layout.

The fact that her freedom was being obstructed by a 4,000-pound chimney stack and two commercial air handling units meant things did not move as quickly as she hoped.

For Emily, who knew her mother so well that she heard fear and emotion in her voice, interaction with first responders such as Rescue Division chief Brad Goodroad and firefighter Dustin Luebke had a soothing effect.

“My mom never once told me what it looked like from outside because it would have freaked me out,” says Emily. “I thought it would take maybe 15 or 20 minutes to come get me, so I didn’t understand what was taking so long. I was crying to her and saying, ‘Are they coming in to get me? What’s taking so long?’

“(Goodroad) started asking me where I was in the apartment in relation to the TV or the kitchen, and they started narrowing it down. I heard their power saws coming a little bit closer."

Firefighters rescue a woman from a collapsed building on Friday in downtown Sioux Falls. The woman, identified as Emily Fodness, had been trapped for three hours.

The rescuers actually saw Nova before they saw Emily. They asked her if she owned a black cat and she told them no, but she had a dog with dark fur. They asked what kind and she told them it was a husky.

“Crap,” muttered Luebke to himself. “I’m probably going to get bit.”

At about 12:30, Nova was pulled from the wreckage without incident, drawing cheers from the crowd. Since the dog had been snuggling near her, Emily knew that meant her rescue was not far behind. She took her hand that had been gripping a piece of wood and stretched it out as far she could to make it visible.

“(Luebke) saw my hand and grabbed it,” she says. “He told me, ‘We have you, and we’re not going to let you go.’ That was an incredible relief. Then I asked them if they could get the pressure off my legs, and it turned out that one of them was standing on me.”

Firefighter held Fodness' hand: 'We're coming to get you'

By 1:30 p.m., after three hours under the rubble, enough space opened up where Emily could be pulled out and placed on a stretcher. She was carried carefully through the scene of the collapse toward a waiting ambulance as her family and friends wept and cheered.

“As they carried me, it didn’t seem like they had to go down very far, so I realized how much I had dropped,” says Emily. “That was frightening to me, because it didn’t seem that far when I was falling. Then they turned the stretcher around and I saw that there was nothing left except for part of our living room.”

After comforting words from her father, Emily was loaded into the ambulance and taken to the hospital. While emergency personnel checked for signs of hypothermia or internal injuries, they asked her how she was doing.

“Well,” she told them, “I’m a little hungry. I didn’t have breakfast or lunch.”

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Facing the future

As each moment separates her more from the day that changed her life, Emily finds solace in simple things.

She avoided personal conversations with people other than her mother while under the rubble because it felt too much like saying goodbye. Now she can’t get enough of those talks as loved ones pull her closer.

“I’ll be gone for three hours and come back and my mom will hug me and say, ‘I’m so glad you’re safe,’” she says with a smile.

There’s a sense of starting over, especially after so much was lost. Mike was informed that personal items were recovered from the wreckage but was underwhelmed by the amount.

“Out of a 2,800 square-foot space, I walked out with a tub full of pictures and a humidor that is crushed,” he says. His wedding photo was saved but not his wedding ring or his father’s retirement watch, honoring 40 years at Morrell’s.

The third dog rescued by Sioux Falls Fire Rescue at the site of the Copper Lounge building collapse is reunited with the Fodness family and friends Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, in downtown Sioux Falls more than 48 hours after the collapse. One person was killed and Emily Fodness was injured in the collapse. Two other dogs were also rescued from the scene.

The community responded by contributing to a GoFundMe account (which has surpassed $11,000), supporting a benefit at Texas Roadhouse and offering random acts of kindness, such as the well-wisher that dropped off a holiday ham downtown to be given to the Fodness family.

If there is a positive message to be found amid the wreckage, it’s the way citizens responded to the crisis and reached out to those affected.

“It was the worst day and the best day of my life,” says Mike. “This community has been my home for my entire life, and with everything that’s been done to help my family, there aren’t enough words or enough time to repay it.”

As for Emily, she thinks often of the McMahon family and Ethan, whose body was recovered the evening of the collapse. If she had been in another part of the loft and not been shielded from debris, would she have suffered the same fate?

“That easily could have been me,” she says.

When Emily later met with first responders, they expressed amazement that she survived and had the resolve to assist the rescue. But they were also impressed with Molly, the 4-year-old beagle who emerged from the wreckage that Sunday afternoon, a full 52 hours after the incident.

“We knew that she might not make it, but we got there right at the moment that she was being pulled out,” says Emily. “She was pretty dusty and had to go to the vet, but when I called to her, she came up and jumped on me and we were so happy to see each other. I would say that was a pretty good day.”

Argus Leader Media city columnist Stu Whitney can be reached at swhitney@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter @stuwhitney

Complete coverage: Downtown building collapse