The employees of the Motorized Giant of Saint-Ambroise in Saguenay had quite a scare on Tuesday morning when part of the roof of the building in which they were located collapsed under the weight of snow and ice.
Authorities said two workers were in the area of the collapse.
It’s safe to say they had a narrow escape as the structure fell on motorized vehicles, preventing it from reaching the employees.
“It might have been much more dangerous than that. On a day like this, there are employees who are at work. Fortunately, no one was injured,” said the director of the Saint-Ambroise fire department, Julien Rivard.
The collapse occurred at the back of the building, in the showroom of the Giant Motorized, a recreational vehicle dealership.
“It’s a part of the roof that represents regarding 25% of the building,” said Mr. Rivard.
The whole building was evacuated. The company, owned by Roulottes AS Lévesque for a few months, called in an engineer, who was to go on site Tuesday followingnoon to check the entire structure. The trade is therefore closed until further notice.
According to initial assessments by the Fire Department, an accumulation of ice on the roof seems to be the cause of the event.
“What we noticed is that it is a building that has been renovated several times. There is a wood frame in a certain part, elsewhere a steel frame. It’s really the wooden frame that collapsed, ”added Julien Rivard.
According to the owner of Caouette Construction, which carries out snow removal for residential and commercial roofs, special attention must be paid to certain types of building.
“When they are old buildings or buildings that are not well insulated, it creates a loss of heat which melts the snow which becomes ice and this ice becomes very heavy. So it creates an overload,” explained Daniel Caouette.
“A lot of times you can’t see it because there’s snow on top. So, you have to do a check by climbing on the roof, ”he added.
Mr. Caouette recalls the importance of clearing your roof, especially with the winter that Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean is experiencing.
“When it starts to have an accumulation of regarding two feet of snow, 60 cm of snow, it starts to be a good idea to clear the snow from your roof,” he said.
