UPDATED: Former pony club’s roof collapses from weight of snow

FREDERICTON – A former pony club barn in Fredericton’s Odell Park has collapsed from the weight of the snow, city officials say. No one was injured in the collapse, but it did destroy the building.

Troy Bright, the caretaker of the park, said he heard the roof cracking Wednesday evening.

“Then basically at ten to ten at night, down she come,” he said. “One big boom and then there was a pop.”

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The ‘pop’ was the barn’s door being blown about 25 feet away after it couldn’t withstand the pressure of the barn’s roof breaking.

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Bright said they had never cleared snow off the barn’s roof before, but that he had noticed the snow was getting thick.

“Obviously there was a lot of weight,” he said. “It was probably the ice from the recent storm that was the heaviest.”

The barn was built in the late eighties and for years was used as a pony club. In recent years, it had been used as storage for park equipment.

That equipment was covered in snow and remnants of the roof Thursday afternoon. Bright said they’ll get a full assessment of the damage in the coming days.

“We’re waiting to get the roof off the equipment to see what damage is done. That’s our next step,” said Don Murray, the city’s Parks and Trees Manager . “Some of the equipment in there would be a brand new tractor, that we just received last fall.”

Fredericton metal business also suffers from caved roof

Iaan Brown, co-owner of Best Metals in Fredericton, said a part of their warehouse saved Sunday night, and another part went Monday.

He said his building is covered by insurance, but it will be millions to repair. He also said he can’t be open for the time being, which is also costing him.

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“I’m hoping to be back in the scrap business fairly soon, we’re going to try to set up to do that, as far as the structural steel business and the bottle exchange, I’m not sure exactly. Could be a while longer,” he said.

Brown said he checked on the roof Friday, but it was the ice storm on Sunday that really hurt the building.

“We thought we’d be alright and then you got that crazy weather all weekend long. It was just too much,” he said.