Anchorage firefighters say nobody was hurt in the collapse of a single-story downtown building Saturday morning, with some road closures expected in the area during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Anchorage Fire Department Assistant Chief Alex Boyd said crews responded to a single-story commercial building collapse at 570 Ingra Street at about 7:40 a.m. Crews found a 200-foot-by-50-foot section of the building’s front collapsed, with a wall pushed into a nearby street.
Boyd said the businesses housed in the building were closed at the time, and no one was inside at the time of the collapse. The cause of the collapse hasn’t yet been determined, he said.
Boyd said parts of 5th and 6th Avenues will likely be closed for some time as firefighters and building inspectors examine the scene.
The collapse comes weeks after a Feb. 17 commercial-building roof collapse at a South Anchorage CrossFit studio, which left one person dead. Anchorage officials said ice accumulation may have contributed to that collapse.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
