A wall of a downtown Centralia building is collapsing and will be torn down on Thursday.
Centralia Fire Chief Jeff Day says the south wall on the former One Hour Martinizing Building at 143 South Locust is buckling. The wall has pulled away about two inches from the roof and the metal wall is buckling with some of the bricks behind it falling to the ground.
Day reports the sidewalk in front of the building and the city parking lot adjacent to the wall have been blocked off. The owner of the building, Ronald Harrison of Mt. Vernon, has arranged for a contractor to be on the scene Thursday morning to take down the wall. Day is unclear if they will take down the entire building which also includes an adjacent storefront at 141 South Locust that is used for storage. The One Hour Martinizing Building has not been used for the past ten years. The adjacent storefront used for storage has been emptied.
Some of those utilizing the city parking lot told fire officials Wednesday the south wall of the building started bowing out earlier this week.
A closer look at the collapse of the wall of the former One Hour Martinizing building at 143 South Locust. Photo by Steven Stilt.
