
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 1, 1995                   TAG: 9511010053
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

ROOF TRUSSING FALLS AT HEALTH BUILDING UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Strong winds caused the weekend collapse of wooden roof trussing over a portion of the new Montgomery County health and human services building, a county official said.

No one was injured and no significant delay is expected because of the collapse, which the contractor discovered at 8 p.m. Saturday, said Martin O'Toole, the county engineer.

The collapse is unrelated to the county's dismissal last week of a Roanoke architectural firm, Kinsey-Shane & Associates, as construction manager for the project, O'Toole said. Montgomery County has not disclosed its reasons for the dismissal.

O'Toole said such trussing collapses are possible no matter what material is being used. "When you get a severe windstorm, until they're completed as a structure, there's always some risk as far as wind damage is concerned," O'Toole said.

The engineer said he's put work in that part of the project on hold for several days to allow the builder, Breakell Inc. General Contractors, to take a close look and determine exactly what happened. The roof-trussing collapse occurred at the middle of the V-shaped building on Pepper Street, over an area that eventually will become a community room and reception area.

The $3.26 million construction project, financed primarily through voter-approved borrowing, still is on schedule for an April 3 completion, O'Toole said.

by CNB