North Medford (Ore.) High School closed its gymnasium over the weekend after two trusses in the ceiling cracked. The damage is thought to be the result of accumulated, heavy snow on the roof of the gymnasium.
Ron Havinear, director of security for the Medford School District, told KDRV News, the severity of the damage. “Unfortunately, it’s due to a partial—not collapse—but two trusses that are significantly damaged, one broken through. The gym itself has been cordoned off from the rest of the campus, so the remaining campus is safe.”
The high school called in the fire department as well as a group of engineers and architects to reduce the amount of snow and assess the integrity of the roof.
“Right now, as you can see, our main effort is to try to accelerate the melting of the snow off the roof. We got about six to seven hundred thousand pounds of snow on that roof. That’s just caused a lot of pressure,” Havinear said.
The damage to North Medford High School’s gymnasium ceiling prompted the school district to examine its structures across the district. Havinear said, “We have already checked all of our other large-span structures to make sure that they’re safe. We will also follow up with an engineering team to do that and continue to monitor. We’re not seeing any other damage district-wide of this nature.”
The gym has been blocked off from the rest of the school building, and no one was hurt when the trusses cracked on Friday. In the meantime, the Medford school district is relocating the activities that typically take place in the gymnasium. From Twisters' athletics to gym classes, everyone must be able to use other facilities as a short-term solution.
Havinear told KDRV News that a company plans to repair the truss this week, and the roof will be reinforced to avoid issues like this in the future. He also said an engineering team will inspect the roof before the gymnasium can re-open to ensure student safety.
