Warehouse Collapse - Cabin Branch Drive 1 am Update

A significant collapse of a large box style commercial warehouse occurred on Thursday, June 28, at around 10 pm. There were about 25 employees inside the warehouse when the sudden collapse occurred buckling a portion of the side wall and a pancake collapse of a portion of the rear wall. When Firefighter/Medics arrived at 1501 Cabin Branch Drive in Landover they worked on evacuating employees and securing the gas, water and electric utilities. After an accountability check of employees it was found that one employee was missing and unaccounted for.

The business involved performs document management. The warehouse area stores a high quantity of paper files. These files are stored in boxes on tall storage shelves. During the collapse a number of these storage shelves toppled over.

Members of the Fire/EMS Department Technical Rescue Team with mutual aid assistance from the District of Columbia Collapse Team have made several searches of the warehouse interior for the employee. A K-9 has also been brought in to search the area where the employee was last seen.

Other warehouses that are attached to the partially collapsed warehouse have been evacuated as a precaution. These include Pepsi-Cola and a Whole Foods distribution warehouse.

No injuries have been reported. In addition to the 75 firefighters, medics, ladies auxiliary/canteen and technical rescue team members on the scene personnel from the Office of Emergency Management and Council Member Andrea Harrison were also on the incident scene.

We are still in a rescue operation. After firefighters have exhausted all searches of the unaccounted worker than a decision will be made on the next course of action. It is believed that any heavy duty work would not start until the light of day On Friday morning.

If anything new develops I will update this site and Twitter @pgfdpio as soon as possible. Mark Brady PGFDPIO 240-508-7930