The Evanston Fire Department responded to a building collapse in the 5th Ward on Sunday.

EFD sent an alert at 5:46 a.m. that a one-story vacant building at 1829 Simpson collapsed this morning, and no injuries were reported. Building and Inspection Services division manager Gary Gerdes said he believes the collapse was caused by high winds.

According to WillyWeather.com, which aggregates weather data, winds ranged from about 16 to 24 miles per hour around the time of the collapse. ABC7 News Chicago reported that high winds, which reached over 50 miles per hour in some areas, caused damage in the Chicago area. A metal facade broke off of the eighth floor of a building in the 300 block of West Illinois Street, and a fallen tree damaged a parked car slightly and blocked the road at 61st and Champlain, ABC7 reported.  

EFD worked to secure the site and clean up the area, according to a Twitter post from the fire department that morning.

“We have cordoned the area off. We have the building department structural engineer for the city coming out to investigate,” EFD division chief Dwight Hohl said to ABC7. “We’ll get some other city departments here with some equipment so we can start clearing this up and also do an investigation.”

Colin Boyle contributed reporting.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @sn_handler