Kmart garden center roof collapses in Naperville
No injuries were reported Thursday morning when a portion of the garden center roof at the Naperville Kmart, 1199 E. Ogden Ave., collapsed under the weight of heavy snow.
Shoppers and employees were in the area attached to the south side of the main store when the roof began to come down, authorities said, but escaped unharmed.
Firefighters arrived at 9:41 a.m. and found part of the one-story structure’s roof had collapsed and the other part was unstable.
The entire store was evacuated. It is unclear when it will reopen.
Division Fire Chief Mark Ziemnik said snow drifts on the roof of the structure were roughly 8 feet deep.
“The garden center is lower than the actual store so that just allowed a large accumulation to blow and settle in a bad spot,” Ziemnik said.
The sprinkler system was shut down and the fire alarm system was taken out of service as building inspectors from the Naperville Department of Transportation, Engineering, and Development and EFI Global engineers representing Sears Holdings evaluated damage to the structure.
“We were given damage estimates of about $200,000 but I can’t help but think damages will exceed that amount,” Ziemnik said.
A collapse zone safety area was developed by the engineers and inspectors. A majority of the contents in the center were undamaged.
Calls and e-mail directed to Sears Holdings spokesmen were not returned Thursday.