Two injured by roof collapse
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 7 years, 11 months AGO
Photo courtesy of Northern Lakes Fire District This metal roof of a lean-to porch collapsed on two men at a residence in the Rathdrum area on Wednesday. The roof had to be cut by emergency crews to rescue one of the men who had become pinned face down underneath. The photo also shows the thick layer of ice that was on the roof and apparently shifted when the men were placing a jack under the structure to secure it after it had become detached from the manufactured home due to snow and ice weight.
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
RATHDRUM — Two men suffered facial injuries and one of them was extricated by rescuers after being pinned face down in the snow for about 20 minutes under a porch roof that collapsed on Wednesday.
Both men declined to be transported to the hospital, said Jim Lyon, Northern Lakes Fire District spokesman.
The incident serves as a reminder that residents need to be careful when dealing with roofs that not only have melting snow but a thick layer of ice underneath due to recent thawing conditions, Lyon said.
"The ice and its weight shifted while they were trying to secure the structure with a jack," Lyon said, adding the metal roof of the lean-to porch had separated from the manufactured home.
Northern Lakes and the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office responded to the home in the 17000 block of North Ramsey Road just south of Garwood Elementary in the Rathdrum area around 2:15 p.m.
The younger adult male self-extricated from the fallen debris, while the other was pinned underneath until responders assisted.
"There was about 4 and a half inches of ice on the roof, so there was a tremendous amount of weight," Lyon said.
A daughter of one of the males told rescuers the roof of the porch was pulling away from the house, so they knew the weight from the ice and snow was an issue.
Hence, the men were using a jack to support the structure when the collapse occurred, Lyon said.
"A lot of porches or lean-tos are not constructed for a tremendous amount of weight and the ice can slide, so people need to be aware of that," he said. "When it starts sliding, you don't want to be in the pathway of that ice."
