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.