News Online: Roof collapse at Edmonton senior centre

Published online at GlobalTVEdmonton.com on January 25, 2011.


Linda Hoang, Global News: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Roof collapse at Edmonton senior centre

The gym roof at the North Gate Lions Seniors Recreation Centre came crashing down just after 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

There have been no injuries reported as a result of the collapse, but the city has sent a trauma team to the facility to comfort those who were inside.

The 48,000-square-foot, city owned recreational facility is located at 7524-139th Ave. It provides a place for seniors in the area to come for recreation activities.

The gym suffered serious damage as a result of the collapse, and there is concern about the structural damage of the rest of the facility.

“It was just some kind of cracking and I opened the door of the gym and I saw the light fixtures were a little bit down. I closed the door and they said ‘everybody get out, everybody get out’,” said Zeljka Laskovic who managed to escape before the roof came down.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Capt. Keven Lefebvre told reporters at the scene that it was “amazing” there were no injuries in the collapse.

City officials will be sent to other flat-roofed buildings in the city to ensure they haven’t been compromised by the recent snow accumulations, particularly those with long roof spans, said city spokesman Paul Specht.

This is the latest in a string of roof collapses in the region. Weeks of snowfall piled on roofs have caused many structures to strain to carry their own weight.

Beams supporting the Habitat for Humanity’s “ReStore” building in north Edmonton recently cracked due to the weight of the snow.

The store has been closed for a few days and 32 teleposts have been installed to temporarily support the building until it can be permanently repaired.

“It’s sad news for Habitat for Humanity Edmonton but we are very optimistic that we’ll get our store up and running just as quickly as possible,” said Alfred Nikolai with Habitat for Humanity.

Over the weekend the roof at a horse stable west of Edmonton collapsed and days before that the roof of an autobody shop also came down.

With files from the Edmonton Journal

Click here to read the article on the Global Edmonton website.

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