SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Scarborough firefighters responded to calls of water leaking into the Walmart and Sam's Club buildings on Thursday.
Deputy Fire Chief John Brennan said firefighters responded to Walmart on Gallery Boulevard around 10 a.m. Thursday for calls from someone concerned about the structure of the building.
When they arrived, they found customers and employees had evacuated with employees still on scene. Walmart representatives told firefighters they were concerned about shifting conduit, and the cables and wires that run the registers and IT systems. They also noted concerns of water leaking into the building from the roof and skylights.
Brennan said there was a large amount of snow and standing water on the roof from the recent storms, which weighed the roof down. He said the water was draining, but not as quickly as Walmart employees had hoped.
He said a Walmart engineer and Scarborough Code Enforcement ultimately deemed the building safe around 2:15 p.m. and turned it back over to Walmart. Brennan said a roofing company is on the roof assessing the situation.
Walmart did not give a timeline for when the store will reopen.
"As an essential store to our community, our goal is to assess any damage from the winter storm and reopen our Scarborough store as quickly and safely as possible," Ashley Nolan, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications for Walmart, wrote in an e-mail.
Brennan said firefighters later responded to Sam's Club on Payne Road for similar concerns of water leaking in the building.
Walmart owns Sam's Club.
Brennan said Sam's Club's engineer, Scarborough Code Enforcement, and a roofing company are still on scene trying to determine if the building is safe.
Brennan said when those crews deem it safe, the fire department will turn it back over Sam's Club to decide when to reopen it.
