Weather Partially To Blame In Crafton Roof Collapse

CRAFTON (KDKA) -- The weather is partially to blame for a roof collapse in Crafton that caused significant damage to a printing business Wednesday morning.

A look from above shows the damage.

The roof goes straight down.

The force of the collapse blew out the windows.

"I saw all kind of glass falling out of the building. The roof collapsed," said John Richnavsky, who owns the photo shop next door.

Richnavsky was shoveling his drive when the roof went down around 8 a.m.

"It was a big bang, sounded like maybe a large firecracker, something like that," he said.

But the biggest scare was whether or not owner Mike Calabrese was inside when the roof went down. His car was parked in front of the store.

Firefighters searched for him.

"Broke through the front of the windows here to make sure nobody was there because Mike, the owner of the building, sometimes he's in there early in the morning," said one firefighter.

Fortunately, Calabrese wasn't inside.

But his business is badly damaged.

KDKA's Paul Martino spoke with Calabrese. He was too upset to go in camera, but he says he blames the aging roof, which is 100-years-old, along with the heavy snow for the collapse.

He's not sure if his insurance will cover the damage.

Meantime, Calabrese is trying to do his printing work at another location.

RELATED LINKS:
More Crafton News
More Reports by Paul Martino

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