Small landslide misses house in Brighton

E-mail | Print | Comments () 02/25/2013 4:36 PM

A Boston Fire Department photo of the small landslide

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By Martin Finucane and Lauren Dezenski, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

A Brighton property owner has been advised to have an engineer inspect his property today after a small landslide Sunday afternoon that narrowly missed his house.

The incident happened at 5 p.m. at 6 Olive St., an address on a dead end street that has a four-story-high cliff at the end, the Boston Fire Department said. The cliff is made of rocks and boulders topped with dirt, with trees on top of that, said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

The slide occurred when some of the boulders slipped out, bringing rocks and earth sliding down next to the house, MacDonald said.

At that location, there was no retaining wall to hold back the cliff. Owners of nearby properties had retaining walls built “to prevent something like this,” MacDonald said.

Because the part of the cliff that fell belongs to the 6 Olive St. property, the property owner is liable, MacDonald said.

“This certainly looks like it has the potential to be a major issue if the homeowner doesn’t address it,” he said.