One of the most important responsibilities for maintenance and engineering managers is ensuring roofs on their facilities are in good condition. Twice annual roof inspections by technicians can go a long way in ensuring roofs function as designed and intended. Things don’t always work out as planned, though.
The Junction Lanes Family Entertainment Center in Newnan, Ga,, suffered major damage in a severe thunderstorm that caved in a portion of the building's roof. When the roof caved in, the fire sprinkler line broke, causing additional damage to the building, according to NBC 11.
The area where the roof collapsed was empty when it happened, says Ryan Huber, Junction Lanes. Occupants were quickly evacuated, and no injuries were reported in the incident.
"Fortunately, (the collapse occurred) at a time when we were in between busy day and busy night, so we only had 12 lanes going a the time," Huber says, adding that the roof is huge — about the size of one-and-a-half football fields. The goal now is to figure out what went wrong and to repair and the resulting damage.
This Quick Read was submitted by Ryan Berlin, managing editor of Facility Maintenance Decisions.
