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Sarah Dallof reportingA roof collapse at a J.C. Penney distribution center in Spanish Fork has forced the facility to shut down.
So far it looks like the collapse was due to heavy snow.
The building, on Highway 6 near the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, has actually shut down by order of the fire marshal right now because of a gaping hole.
A manager at the support center estimates the hole is about 50 feet by 50 feet. The collapse happened last night. Everyone had gone home for the day, so no one was injured.
Most employees learned what had happened when they arrived for work. Robert Smith said, "If you look down here at the side, you can see this big pile of snow alongside there that all slid off that big sloping roof there, and there's another sloping roof right off top there where more slid onto a flat part, which is probably the part that caved. "
A spokesman for J.C. Penney says he hopes they'll be able to rope off the unsafe area of the building and get everyone back to work as soon as possible.
This afternoon, officials were inspecting the roof and building to better estimate when that might be. The snow and pieces of the roof did fall on merchandise in the warehouse, damaging it.
Employees will sort through it to decide what's able to be sold and what's too damaged.
