KDKA
By Chris Hoffman, Ricky Sayer
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A roof collapsed in Oakland on Friday, injuring 16 people at a St. Patrick’s Day Party. According to contractors, the collapse came as no surprise when they saw the viral video of people partying on it.
One of the first things a contractor told KDKA-TV was that with a roof like this, people really shouldn’t be on it, let alone as many as there were on Friday.
The video from the 300 block of Semple Street is scary, but unfortunately not surprising to building experts.
“It’s actually a miracle that nobody was killed,” said Chad Sipes, the owner of Sipes and Son General Contractors.
He said that type of roof is commonplace for the Pittsburgh area.
“We’ve repaired a lot of roofs, porch roofs just like that. In Pittsburgh, you’ll see that porch roof probably in every single neighborhood,” Sipes said over Zoom.
For students hanging either on the roof or below it Friday, they say there was little to no warning it would give way. It just collapsed and ripped off the house.
“I didn’t hear any cracking until it happened. It was, like, instant,” said Ben Dorish, who was under the roof when it went down.
“No cracks were heard. Like, I didn’t feel it, like, cave in or anything. It just, like, fell,” said Michael Estocin, who was on the roof.
Sipes said that roof is meant to hold up against wind and snow. Even current building codes are not meant to withstand what happened Friday evening. If anyone is on it, it’s first responders in an emergency or a couple of people working on a house. A group of more than a dozen partying on it shouldn’t be up there, according to Sipes.
“Having 20, 30 people up there jumping up and down, it is not intended for that,” he said.
County records show the house is from 1920. A city spokesperson says there have never been any concerns about the structure in the past.
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