UPDATE: Exterior Panel Falls From Office Building, Causes Evacuation

A building and some offices have been evacuated along Wilton Road in Westport after a panel broke loose from the façade of an office building that overlooks the intersection of Post Road West and Wilton Road.

The panel, which now hangs horizontally beneath a section of the building's roof, became detached along one edge Thursday and ended up dangling outside the window of a top floor office space.

The incident at the Westport Corporate Center building was reported at 12:35 p.m. and in less than an hour the Westport Fire Department determined one of the nearby buildings should be evacuated in case the panel might fall.

The building included The Needlework Shoppe at 1 Wilton Rd. The offices in the corporate center building immediately below the loose panel were evacuated, as well, but the rest of the building remained occupied.

A building inspector estimated the loose panel weights about 500 pounds.

The panel was also dangling over the gas meter to the corporate center building, so firefighters used lumber to build a canopy over it.

At 3:30 p.m., firefighters were waiting for a crane to arrive that can rise multiple stories so workers could reach the panel and remove it.