Age likely contributed to the collapse of one of the walls in a building in the 500 block of South Main St. in De Soto late Sunday afternoon (Sept. 20). No one was hurt in the incident, but the collapse led to the closure of the street in front of the building, De Soto Fire Chief James Maupin said.
“We shut down South Main due to the instability of the building,” he said this morning (Sept. 21). “To my knowledge, it’s still closed. (City officials) are evaluating what to do. The city is meeting with the owner to discuss what steps will need to be done.”
The building was unoccupied when the wall collapsed at about 5:45 p.m., Maupin said.
“The south wall of the building collapsed into the parking lot of the gas station next door (Express Mart),” Maupin said. “The wall is in part of an occupied part of the building. A business, Barney’s Frozen Foods, is in the building, but it was unoccupied.”
He said the wall is in the part of the building that has an address of 514 S. Main St. The address for Barney’s Frozen Foods is 512 S. Main St.
The building is owned by SimpliHomes LLC, Maupin said.
He said the cause of the wall collapse has not yet been determined, but the building’s age likely played a part.
“The building owner found out the building is 130 years old. It’s had additions to it, multiple owners,” Maupin said. “It could be just deterioration, water inside the building – that’s to be determined.”
He said firefighters remained on the scene until 1:30 a.m. today because of concerns about the instability of the building.