Roof collapses at Munhall business; crews begin cleanup process

MUNHALL, Pa. — Demolition crews have begun the process of assessing damage and cleaning up after the roof of a Munhall business collapsed Sunday.

Workers began taking apart the roof at the old AAMCO Transmission building on East 8^th Avenue Sunday night after it collapsed earlier in the day.

Crews set up a detour for drivers while they checked out the roof. That section of the road has reopened, but officials said they don't want people walking or parking in front of the building.

Munhall Mayor Raymond Bodnar said the big question is what will happen to the building.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s got to go. I issued an emergency order and shut the place down,” Bodnar said.

Bodnar added that he’s waiting on recommendations from a structural engineer about what can be done.

“There’s no reason in the world anybody should risk their life by walking under some of those bricks and stuff hanging over from that building,” Bodnar said.

Ed Pletsch, of the Munhall Fire Department, said one of the biggest obstacles is removing the cars that were left inside the garage.

“The building is too unsafe to remove those, at least by driving,” Pletsch said. “It’s going to be up to the demolition contractors to remove those as well.”

Sandra Valdivia owns a balloon business just a block away from 8^th Avenue and said a lot of buildings in the area need work.

“That’s just a surprise that it came down all of a sudden. Thank goodness nobody was around because it could have been a major disaster,” Valdivia said. “A lot of these buildings need a lot of work on the inside.”

None of the neighboring businesses were affected by the collapse.

A man who said he owned the building said he has no plans to demolish it or remove the cars that are still inside.

WPXI