Pennsylvania Ice Rink Collapse Narrowly Misses Youth Teams

ROSTRAVER, Pa. — A fire official says the buildup of snow and ice may have contributed to a roof collapse at a western Pennsylvania ice skating rink.

Emergency crews at the scene of the partially collapsed roof of the Rostraver Ice Garden on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 14, 2010 in Rostraver, Pa.(AP Photo/John Heller)


(AP Photo/John Heller)

(AP Photo/John Heller)

But the cause of Sunday’s accident at Rostraver Ice Garden outside Pittsburgh has not been determined, according to Justin Shawley, assistant chief of the Rostraver Central Volunteer Fire Company.

Rostraver Ice Garden owner Jim Murphy says he believes excessive snow over the past 10 days appears to have caused a wooden truss to break on Sunday afternoon. Murphy says a building inspector was expected Monday. He didn’t have a cost estimate of damages.

No one was hurt when the roof collapsed during a youth hockey tournament around 3:30 p.m. Witnesses say the roof started to cave in between games.

Search teams later sifted through the rubble to make sure no one was trapped. They eventually determined that everyone had been accounted for.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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This is happening all over SwPA. The snow loads are snapping trusses like tooth pics. The Ice garden is the first commercial roof I heard about. Westmorland and Fayette 911 dispached quite a few roof collapse calls through out this storm. Its amazing everyone made it out unharmed!
It's absolutely amazing no one was hurt or killed. The place was full of youth hockey players, parents and spectators. The only person on the ice at the time was the zamboni driver, resurfacing the ice in between games. He, and I believe a couple other people, heard loud cracking noises and immediately yelled for everyone to run for the exits. Quick and heads-up thinking on their part.

There's several videos in the right column of this link related to the story.

http://kdka.com/westmoreland/Rostraver.witness.roof.2.1494982.html
just glad nobody was killed.

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