MEC&F Expert Engineers : ROOF COLLAPSE SHUTTERS MILLER PLAZA STORES IN MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

ROOF COLLAPSE SHUTTERS MILLER PLAZA STORES IN MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS





FEBRUARY 9, 2015 

MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS

Town safety officials condemned the Walgreens building at 89 Pleasant St. in Miller’s Plaza after the weight of roughly two feet of snow caused the pharmacy’s flat roof down to sag slowly before buckling inward last week.

No one was hurt when the roof collapsed, according to Marblehead Fire Capt. Mike Porter. He said a Walgreens manager noticed the store’s ceiling bowing inward while opening the store and then alerted the fire station around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3.

“They called us, saying a support beam was cracked and compromised,” said Porter. “We got down there and immediately evacuated Starbucks. We didn’t have to evacuate [Salem Five Bank] because it wasn’t open.”

The 7-Eleven convenience store in the plaza units was notified about the situation but remained open.

Firefighters used a ladder truck to assess the sagging roof about six hours before it gave way around 1 p.m.
Marblehead Police sectioned off the area to allow for an inspection of the property. Workers from several town departments, including the Water and Sewer and Light departments and wire inspector, shut off the the building’s utilities, including water, sprinklers, gas and electricity, to prevent water and gas pipes from rupturing during a roof collapse.

“We were there for quite a while,” said Porter, adding that firefighters initially left the scene around 10 a.m., with the building’s ceiling sagging but not caved in.

When they left, the situation was handed over to Marblehead Building Commissioner Bob Ives.

Porter said the building’s owners, Andy Rose and Mark Clayman of Limited Partnership, had an architect and structural engineer looking at the building right away.

“The whole roof didn’t collapse, just a section of the roof collapsed, but it was a main section,” Ives said Wednesday, Feb. 4.

Prior to the roof collapse, Ives climbed the fire truck’s ladder and looked at the snow.

“It wasn’t all that much,” he said. “I was surprised at how little was there, probably less than two feet.”

He added, “I think it had been stressed at one point in the past, and from what what I could see, [the roof] appeared to have been repaired at one point by someone.”

Porter said the owners had attempted to add pieces of wood to brace a cracked beam above the store’s pharmacy counter. After doing so, the pharmacy’s ceiling came tumbling down. At around 1 p.m., officials decided to condemn the damaged section of the building.