No one injured in early-morning building collapse

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A building collapse Saturday morning closed Ingra Street between Fifth and Seventh Avenues, stopping traffic on the morning of the nearby ceremonial start to Iditarod 51.

The Anchorage Fire Department responded to the building collapse around 7:40 a.m.

In a separate incident, Anchorage police responded to a car crash in Downtown Anchorage.

Police showed up alongside the fire department to a report of a building that had collapsed near 570 Ingra Street. Photos of the collapse show the building that had been occupied by FashionPact, a clothing thrift store.

Anchorage Fire Department Assistant Chief Alex Boyd confirmed in an email that the commercial structure collapse occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue.

“The collapse involved much of the roof and has created instability to outer walls. Portions of 5th Ave are being closed in order to protect the public form possible secondary wall collapse,” Boyd wrote. “The building was unoccupied at the time of collapse and there are no reports of injuries or missing people. The businesses in the building were closed at the time of collapse.”

Boyd said that the cause of the collapse is still undetermined. Downtown Anchorage thrift store FashionPact posted to Facebook that they were the business whose building collapsed.

It’s the third collapse of a structure in the past month. Just over two weeks ago, the Palmer Public Library suffered a partial building collapse just days before one person died in a building collapse in Anchorage.

Police reported at 7:42 a.m. Saturday that they were conducting an investigation at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Gambell Street. At 9:28 a.m., police wrote that the intersection had been reopened. However, police had initially posted about the road closure at 7:42 a.m. and the building collapse at 8:15 a.m.

Anchorage Police Department Community Relations Specialist Cherie Zajdzinski reported that neither incident involved any Iditarod participants.

“Neither have anything to do with the race. Just unfortunate timing that they are both in that area,” Zajdzinski wrote.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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