THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110278
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
The weight of three rooftop heating and air conditioning units played a major role in the rapid collapse of the Advance Auto Parts Store roof during a fire that killed two firefighters in March, authorities say.
One unit weighing 1,200 pounds and two others, each 600 pounds, were on the roof of the building at 4345 Indian River Road, but city investigators found no evidence that extra support had been added. The units were part of the original construction.
The building, erected in 1984, probably could not be built today without additional support for the units, the officials said.
``The weight on the roof had to be a major factor in the rapid collapse,'' said Fire Marshal Thomas H. Cooke. ``If the weight hadn't been there, it would have come down in a different way. It might have allowed the firefighters some exit time. It's not absolute, but it's our best guess based on experience with this type of construction.''
Only about 11 minutes elapsed between the time the fire was discovered in the ceiling March 18 and the roof collapsed, Cooke said. Frank E. Young, 38, and John R. Hudgins Jr., 32, died in the blaze.
An improperly grounded electrical system allowed numerous hidden fires to start simultaneously in the space between the roof and ceiling, Fire Chief Michael L. Bolac has said. The fires broke out when a Virginia Power employee damaged a nearby meter box, causing a massive power surge.
The building, 120 feet long by 50 feet wide, was constructed with wooden roof trusses spanning 50 feet with no center supports.
``That's probably about the maximum span you could have without any additional support,'' Cooke said. The three heating and cooling units were located in a row along the center axis of the roof from the front to the rear of the building. They were about 25 to 30 feet apart.
Although building code requirements have not changed significantly since the store was built, inspections have become more thorough, authorities say.
``In today's review process, I don't think the problem with the rooftop weight would go unnoticed,'' Cooke said. ``If that building were constructed today, I'm sure it would be braced in a much more substantial way.''
City and fire officials said they have been unable to obtain original plans for the building. The city's inspections office is required to keep such documents for only three years. After that, the office purges records because of a lack of space.
A spokesman for Sicash Builders Inc., a Virginia Beach company listed on city documents as the builder, refused to comment. A spokeswoman for Advance Auto Parts said the company, with stores in 10 states in the Southeast, contracts or leases its buildings, so there is no standard design. The spokesman could not provide a copy of the building plans for the Chesapeake store.
Carl E. Hall, director of the Chesapeake Inspections Department, said if someone were to come to his office today with plans for the same building, he would closely examine the weight on the roof.
``If we had any question at all, we'd require additional engineering,'' he said. ``Normally, those units wouldn't sit on the roof without additional support.''
Robert R. Smalley, the city's code enforcement administrator who investigated the scene after the fire, said extensive fire damage and the lack of original plans make it impossible to know if allowances were made for the weight. ``But there's no evidence of additional support . . . to hold that weight,'' he said.
He also noted several other unusual findings in the report to Cooke:
Circuits appear to have been added with improper wiring, though he does not believe this contributed to the fire.
A water heater does not appear to have been replaced since the building was constructed 12 years ago, although such equipment usually lasts five to eight years. The heater was identified as one of the points of origin of the fire. A permit would have been required to replace the heater, and city officials would have inspected it for safety.
A certificate of occupancy cannot be found for the store, although records indicate that all the final inspections were done.
Robert R. Kunkler, a local structural engineer, said engineers typically double the number of trusses or use transverse bracing to accommodate added rooftop weight. Without more specific information about the building's construction, it is impossible to determine precisely how much weight the trusses could carry or whether they were overloaded, he said.
Fred McCormick, a retired professor of civil engineering at the University of Virginia, said he is reluctant to find principal fault in a roof that had been in place for 12 years.
``If it hadn't been for the fire, it probably would be handling the load no problem,'' he said. But McCormick also noted that 2-by-4s and 2-by-6s, like those used in the store's construction, would not resist fire as well as heavier construction and would collapse more quickly.
Lightweight wood-truss construction has been reported to collapse within 10 to 20 minutes of fire involvement, according to a summary of other blazes issued by the fire marshal earlier this month.
And experts say that such weight on the roof of commercial buildings is not unusual. ``I think you'll find, not only here but across the country, a lot of similar situations,'' Smalley said.
One theory voiced by fire and inspection officials and others is that the weight of the Borg-Warner heating and air conditioning units never was considered in the original plans for the store.
``They may or may not have known the units were going on the top and may not have known to look for additional bracing,'' Cooke said.
By all accounts, experts agree that the absence of building plans and the number of variables make it difficult to determine if the structure's design hastened the roof's collapse.
``I think common sense would dictate if you're going to put additional weight on a roof, you need more support,'' Cooke said. ``We're not blaming the review process for allowing a building to be constructed that people died in. But when we had that much fire burning in a building for that long, that weight certainly helped bring that roof down quickly.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color graphic
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE FIRE DEPARTMENT DEATHS FATALITY by CNB