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Keep an eye on your roof, fire official urges

Keep an eye on your roof, fire official urges

The assistant deputy fire chief with the Fredericton Fire Department is warning people to keep a close eye on the amount of snow on structures.

Dave McKinley said warm temperatures mixed with rain can literally add tons to the weight of the snow on a roof.

"When it rains, snow is on the roof and it's holding on to that water until it can melt off," he said.

McKinley said there are some telltale signs that a roof is under too much pressure.

"There could be cracking in the house, the possibility of cracks in the sheet rock as well," he said.

For safety, McKinley advises people to hire someone to clear the roof instead of trying to do it themselves.

"We tell people [to] be careful about doing it themselves because if you don't know what you're doing it is very easy to get hurt," he said.

"It's more common for us to have a call for someone who's fallen off the roof than it is for a roof caving in from a snow load."

The roof of a church in Minto collapsed last week. The weight of snow on the roof may have been the cause.