Fire officials Wednesday night ruled out the possibility that at least two children may have been trapped in rubble after the roof of a Little Village thrift store collapsed.
The search was ordered after witnesses reported seeing the children in Unique Thrift Store at 2329 S. Kedzie Ave. shortly after noon when the store’s roof collapsed, said authorities who estimated that 30 to 40 people were in the store at the time.
A construction crew was tearing down a building next door to make way for a new fire station, said Ald. Michael Chandler (24th).
Witnesses told Chandler that the demolition crew was pulling away one of the vacant building’s walls when I-beams shot out and struck the side of the thrift store. The thrift store’s wall and roof then slowly collapsed, witnesses inside the store told Chandler.
Authorities ordered a search of the debris after people inside the store reported seeing at least two children in the area of the collapse, authorities said. Employees and customers inside escaped by running out of the front of the store.
“We used infrared imaging equipment but got no hits on that. Sound listening devices like they use in earthquakes didn’t hear anything,” said Fire Department spokesman Dennis Gault.
The search was continued after dogs from the Police Department’s canine unit picked up human scent in the rubble.
Gault said the search was called off about 9 p.m. after crews had cleared enough of the debris to be sure no one was trapped.
No one in the area had reported any children missing Wednesday night, police said.
James Connolly, deputy fire commissioner of operations, said the Buildings Department would investigate the cause of the collapse.
“I don’t know how it collapsed,” he said. “It’s still under investigation right now.”
The collapse caused a major natural gas line to break, fire officials said. One woman who was inside the store was treated at a hospital after inhaling gas fumes, Connolly said. No other injuries were reported, he said.
Fire officials worked to stabilize the building so rescuers could continue their search.
“There’s a huge I-beam that’s precluding us from doing a more thorough search,” Connolly said as the search got under way.
Connolly said he has no reason to believe the thrift store was unsafe prior to the collapse. He said the store and the demolished building hadn’t been connected, but he did not know how close they were to each other.
Chandler said demolition of the buildings near the store began in November in preparation for construction of the new fire station. He said ACS Inc., a demolition and building contractor out of Darien, had been subcontracted by the city for the construction work.
