Partially collapsed building in Hancock condemned

Search and rescue officials from Washington and Montgomery counties found no evidence of anyone inside a partially collapsed building in downtown Hancock on Monday after being able to access part of the building, Washington County Emergency Services Director R. David Hays said on the scene.

K-9 units didn't detect anyone in the building, Hays said. Emergency officials also used thermal imaging and yelled out, he said. They were not able to physically search the entire building due to the two floors that had partially collapsed, creating dangerous conditions.

Emergency crews started clearing the scene around 3 p.m. Monday.

Washington County 911 was notified via radio around 10:36 a.m. Monday of the partial collapse inside a vacated building at 55 W. Main St., a 911 supervisor said.

Hays said the collapse could have occurred within the last few days, but not on Monday because the air inside the building was clear when emergency crews entered. If the collapse had happened Monday, there would have been particle dust in the air, he said.

Town Manager Michael Faith said he was giving some people a tour late Saturday of a town-owned building down the street when they came to the west side of 55 W. Main St. to try to get a view of the roof of the town-owned building.

Faith said he noticed some damage to 55 W. Main St., which has had issues with homeless people and others entering the building. Past issues include graffiti, vandalism and drug evidence, he said.

Faith said he returned to the building on Monday morning and was able to enter the front door. When he saw the ceiling had collapsed, he contacted Washington County officials.

"I'm just glad no one was hurt," Faith said after hours of emergency service officials searching what they could of the building.

"Now it's just a property issue," Faith said.

Hancock building will now be condemned after collapse

Greg Cartrette said that, as the county's code official, he was condemning the building.

Cartrette said he expects the building will be demolished but officials will need to have discussions about what needs to be done and the legalities. Part of the what needs to be evaluated is whether there is a danger to neighboring buildings.

The condemned building's exterior walls in the back and on the east and west sides are showing stress, said Cartrette and Faith.

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The building on the east side of the condemned structure houses a bed and breakfast, Cartrette said. No one was staying at the bed and breakfast on Monday or Monday night, he said.

Those two buildings are very close to each other, and the bed and breakfast building, a brick building, has windows on its west side next to the condemned building, he said.

There is a vacant building to the west side of the condemned building.

Faith said 55 W. Main St. housed the White Shield Pharmacy in the early 1980s and later a video store.

The property owner was not on scene Monday afternoon, but had been notified of what was found.

Main Street, the main road through town, was closed from Pennsylvania Avenue to Church Street until shortly after 3 p.m.

Hays said the Montgomery County team, which specializes in searching collapsed structures, was called in to assist the county's special operations team, Hays said. The Montgomery County teams consists of 15 personnel and about four to five pieces of apparatus.

In total, there were about 40 emergency responders on scene, he said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Emergency crews respond to partially collapsed building in Hancock, Md