Building collapse in Windsor

Windsor, Conn. (WTNH) - To give you an idea of the magnitude of the collapse, just the draft from the roof collapse blew the front door right off its hinges, and people say when they heard the grinding and twisting of the metal, they went running for cover.

"It felt more like a freight train coming toward you," Brian Corsetti from Windsor said.

"It's like pretzels. Big steel beams like pretzels," said one witness.

"Fiberglass was blowing everywhere," Corsetti said.

"Had there been anybody in there we definitely would have had fatalities," Windsor Fire Captain Tom Lepore said.

No one was hurt, but it was a close call all the way around.

The owner of Mototown USA was on the roof with a crew removing snow when the roof began to buckle. They all ran to the next roof over, and turned around to see the entire building pivot, twist, and crumple to the ground.

Corsetti was in the Blimpie's next door and felt the building shake. He made sure everybody got out alive.

"You don't want to leave anybody behind, and as I just told him, my wife yelled at me for it, but after we got my people out safely then I remembered there was a young lady working, so I ran back in," Corsetti said.

It was the largest free-standing building in Connecticut. Police say it is the size of two football stadiums, not football fields, but stadiums. It was Mototown USA, the largest indoor motorcycle track in North America, but the weight of the snow was just too much for the massive steel girders.

If the implosion had happened yesterday during a major event, there might have been a very different outcome.

"There were a number of riders in there. I don't know the number, but I know there were quite a few. Today was their off day, and there was nobody inside," Captain Lepore said.

The building inspector has cleared the rest of the building, saying it is safe, so all of the other businesses will be open tomorrow.