T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ - Police are asking residents to stay away from the 300 block of Third Avenue after a building collapse Wednesday.

Police are asking residents to stay away from the 300 block of Third Avenue after a building collapse Wednesday.

There are no known injuries and the building was not believed to be occupied, Marshalltown Police Chief Mike Tupper said. The police are helping control traffic while the fire department investigates.

“From first reports, it’s a vacant building. Nobody is inhabiting it. We did a quick exterior search on it, and we didn’t see anyone living in there, or any homeless,” Capt. Don Barker with the Marshalltown Fire Department said.

The wall on the south side of the building had visibly collapsed. The wall on the north side and front side of the building facing the sidewalk will most likely cave.

Police and fire crews said they will continue to monitor the condition of the building and have been in contact with the building’s owner as well as the city engineer.

“We are looking at the options of knocking it down on our own, using a track hoe that is tall enough. If not, we would have to look at another piece of equipment,” Barker said.