Roof collapse causes road closing

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. —Traffic was diverted for more than an hour off of Pa. Route 18 after the roof of a vacant building collapsed and a gas line ruptured in Wilmington Township, Lawrence County.

Dick Wilson, second assistant chief of the New Wilmington Fire Department, said when firefighters arrived at 10:30 a.m. today at 3932 Wilmington Road there was a strong smell of natural gas.

The vacant building was the former Robert Retort Sr. Paving & Sealing, according to county assessment records.

Wilson said there were two buildings on the property and the roof of the smaller one, which had once been Retort’s office, collapsed, apparently under the weight of recent snow.

Wilson said he could smell the natural gas from about 150 feet from the building.

“Our main concern was an explosion,” he said.

Traffic was diverted about an hour while utility crews shut off service to the building, Wilson said.

According to Wilson, wind helped dissipate the released natural gas and they did not have to evacuate any nearby buildings.