No injuries in partial collapse of Palmer library roof

PALMER — No one was injured when part of the roof of Palmer’s library collapsed Wednesday evening, emergency officials said.

Palmer Fire & Rescue responded to a report of the collapse at the Palmer Public Library with people possibly still inside at about 5:45 p.m., according to Chief Chad Cameron. The collapse occurred over the children’s reading area at the library, and there was a family of three children and their mother in the area at the time, Cameron said. Three library staff were also inside.

All seven people were able to get out of the building, he said. The family was checked by Mat-Su Borough medics.

Firefighters established that no one else was inside about 25 minutes after the collapse was reported.

The library was built in 1985, according to Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington, who was standing with library staff and firefighters outside the building Wednesday night.

Most of the building looked undamaged. A section of roof along the edge of the building facing a large parking lot appeared buckled. Damage inside the building wasn’t visible from the exterior.

It’s likely that the weight of snow this winter caused the collapse, Cameron said. Palmer, like much of Southcentral, experienced back-to-back storms in December that dumped several feet of snow and additional accumulation in recent weeks.

This is a developing story and will be updated.