Update on Collapsed Abandoned Building

The Watertown Fire Department spent five hours at the site of a collapsed abandoned building near the corner of Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street while a hazardous material and State Police search teams searched the former military facility.

The building gave way on Feb. 3 at about 5 p.m. under the weight of snow from recent storms, said Fire Capt. David Melanson.

"Like everywhere else, it was due to the snow," Melanson said. "The building was not in good condition. It is an abandoned site."

The site has been identified as the Department of Environmental Protection as a contaminated site, Melanson said. Because of that a Tier 1 Hazardous Material Response team had to be called out.

"It is an old military installation which was part of the (Watertown) Arsenal complex," Melanson said, referring to the nearby former U.S. Army facility which now houses the the Arsenal Center for the Arts., among other things.

The search team was called in to see if anyone had been in the building.

"Nothing was found, but it was possible there could have be some vagrants in the building," Melanson said. "There were beer bottles and quite a bit of trash inside."

Fire crews left the area at 10:30 p.m., nearly five hours after first responding, Melanson said.