The roof of the Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md., collapsed this morning, WUSA9 is reporting.
The building is the Smithsonian’s main off-site storage warehouse for museum artifacts. It’s unknown what, if any, artifacts may have been damaged by the roof collapse, according to the report. Firefighters responded to the scene before 7 a.m. and shut off electricity and natural gas to the warehouse.
Officials have been warning about the dangers of roofs collapsing from the weight of all the snow the area has received. According to Michael McGill, spokesman for the General Services Administration’s National Capital Region, damage to buildings maintained by GSA has been minimal so far. A sprinkler burst in one of the buildings at the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters campus in White Oak, Md. GSA also had to shore up the roof of its 1 million square foot warehouse in Franconia, Va., which was weakened by damage from December’s storm.
