Fargo Businesses Forced to Evacuate After Roof Begins to Cave

The Westwood Galleria in South Fargo was Evacuated by the Fire Department

FARGO, N.D. — When Tanya Peterson went to work at her business inside the Westwood Galleria, she quickly noticed something was not right.

“I had been in there painting and noticed yesterday that the ceiling started bowing,” Peterson said. “And there is leaks and the ceiling tiles were falling and there were cracks in the walls.”

She called her property manager to have someone come take a look, but when no one did, she took matters into her own hands.

“We ended up calling the Fire Department,” Peterson said. “We just didn’t really know what else to do. As soon as the Fire department showed up, they evacuated the building and said it wasn’t safe.”

Despite the roof buckling in in only one corner of the building, all tenants were forced to evacuate.

Firefighters claim it was an engineering issue caused by the heavy amount of snow on the roof.

“They said that the main beam that runs in the front of the building is bent,” said Peterson. “They did say that there is a way they can possibly go and fix the beam before the roof collapses, which is good for us because then we wouldn’t lose our store.”

Peterson manages one of the eight businesses that operate within the Galleria. She had just purchased the space for her store, Helping Hands Recycled Treasures, and was preparing to open.

“I was ready to move in our inventory and hopefully get the store up and running,” said Peterson. “As of now, we don’t have a move in date when we could even begin to move in. They are going to end up replacing the ceiling again and whatever they have to do with the structural beam. It’s a waiting game to see when we can move in and when it is structurally sound.”