Portion of roof collapses in Gardner

By Globe Staff

A section of roof at a building in downtown Gardner collapsed Sunday afternoon under the weight of recent snows. No one was injured, but five people were displaced after the building commissioner deemed the structure unsafe for occupancy.

The problems with the flat roof at the Parker Street building were reported at about 3 p.m., said Lieutenant Chuck Boris of the Gardner Fire Department. He said the building once included a movie theater, stores, and apartments. But the movie theater had been closed for years and the rest of the building was mostly empty. The Red Cross was assisting the residents who had been displaced, he said.

While officials had warned of the possibility of more roof collapses caused by Sunday night's rains soaking into the snow already piled on roofs, they said today that no major problems had been reported.

Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said it appeared the danger of collapses had passed.

"I think we're pretty much out of the woods," he said. "Generally speaking, I think the worst is behind us with this episode."

Charlie Foley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, also thought the roof collapse danger was past. "If it hasn't caused a problem yet, it's doubtful that it would," he said noting that the next chance of precipitation is Thursday.

Foley said one possible factor that saved people's roofs was that there was less rain than expected. In the western part of the state, some towns saw more than an inch, but only a half-inch fell in Boston.

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