What caused a vacant building's facade to collapse?

A partial building collapse in Philipsburg temporarily caused a road and sidewalk to be shut down.

Reliance Fire Company posted a picture of the building on Facebook, and it showed the front facade fallen on the sidewalk and Front Street near Laurel Street. Philipsburg manager Joel Watson is managing the scene.

"Part of facade collapsed, probably because of water damage on the structure," Watson said. "It was repaired, but I think water damage is probably the cause behind it."

The building is a steel structure, according to Watson, and the beam behind the facade had rusted, and the bricks became loose. One of the building's floors might have shifted, too, causing the bricks to loosen.

The building has been vacant for several years, and no one was injured by the facade collapse.

"It happened at about 8:30 this morning, and no one was right under it luckily," Watson said. "A demolition contractor was in there 45 minutes after it happened. Anything else that was loose got knocked down."

The road was closed for several hours and reopened at about 1:30 p.m. The sidewalk and several parking spaces are blocked off.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 2:49 PM with the headline "What caused a vacant building's facade to collapse?."