A Mount Vernon church suffered a roof collapse Monday (Feb. 2), as Northern Virginia continues to navigate the aftermath of a winter storm and historic freeze.
Fairfax County firefighters responded to St. George Tigray Orthodox Tewahdo Church on Cooper Road shortly before 5:20 p.m., and were greeted by a “roof and floor failure” of the two-story building.
“The entire roof collapsed into the second floor,” one first responder said over the police scanner. “[There’s] a pretty good lean as well on the … wall out towards the parking lot.”
One firefighter on the scene also noted that a portion of the building’s truss system — its structural framework — “is completely gone.”
Last night just before 5:20 p.m., #FairfaxsBravest responded to a partially collapsed 2-story commercial building on Cooper Rd, Mount Vernon. Crews found roof and floor failure, secured utilities, evacuated exposures, and confirmed no occupants. No injuries reported. pic.twitter.com/dgP5hNyqq9
— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) February 3, 2026
The building was unoccupied, and no injuries were ultimately reported, according to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
“I’m very shocked [at] the collapse of our church,” Archbishop Abba Athanasius told NBC4. “So, I’m deeply hurt and very sad, but thank God nobody was hurt.”
St. George has called the church home since 2020, when it took over the space after the departure of Grace Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. The building had been constructed back in 1954, according to county property records.
The church’s congregation is Ethiopian and features roughly 200 members, NBC4 reported.
It’s too early to know the next steps for the church, one leader told NBC4.
“It’s destroyed. And we don’t know what to do at this time,” he said. “Most of our members didn’t know.”
Though not explicitly provided as the reason for the church’s roof collapse, the widespread presence of “snowcrete” has caused troubles for residents across Fairfax County.
“The amount of frozen precipitation that fell Sunday contained water equivalent to roughly a 20-inch snowstorm, but in a far more compacted form,” the Capital Weather Gang posted on X. “What remains may only be four to six inches thick, yet it is so dense that it will require a significant amount of heat energy to melt.”
When is this "snowcrete" nonsense going to finally MELT?
Wouldn't surprise us if some of it is still hanging around in MARCH.
The prolonged cold has largely prevented the frozen conglomeration that fell on Sunday from melting, and there’s no sign of a meaningful thaw or… pic.twitter.com/7KDzzaY7tl
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 30, 2026
