Woodgrain worker talks of Prineville roof collapse

The weight of a foot or more of wet, heavy snow (and freezing rain) apparently proved to be too much for the roofs of two industrial buildings, in Prineville and Redmond, which collapsed about two hours apart Friday morning, fortunately causing no injuries, authorities said.

Crook County Fire & Rescue was dispatched shortly after 7 a.m. to the first incident, a roof collapse over a “cut line” at Woodgrain Millwork LLC, 1948 N. Main Street, said Fire Marshal Casey Kump.

Crews arrived to find a large section of roof had collapsed, but no injuries reported, said Kump, who told NewsChannel 21 it was “absolutely snow load-related.”

Employees that did not wish to be named told NewsChannel 21’s Katie Higgins that it happened quickly, with little warning.

“It was just a big woof, and there was dust everywhere,” one employee said. “I kind of dove underneath this metal table. I didn’t know what was going on.

He said it went dark, as power was affected when the roof caved in. He was near the door and made for a quick exit.

“I knew it fell where people were going to be working at their stations,” the employee said.

Oddly enough, the cold weather weighing down the roof also froze up their rip saw — the machine right under the roof that collapsed. All the workers that usually work there were off doing other things.

“We cut up all the wood that we had, and we started cleaning up different places,” the employee said, adding that the roof broke minutes later.

“I heard the ceiling cracking,” the employee said.

He said if he was working where the saw was, he would have been right under the falling roof.

This worker also said the roofs have leaked for years. However, OSHA has not received any complaints about it.

In the past eight years, though, OSHA online inspection records show the mill has had 20 violations, 10 of which were labeled “serious.”

The worker told us, “Hopefully, we’ll be back to work soon.”

The general manager says it could be weeks before all the repairs are made. Hourly workers might be off the job for a while, but all 300 employees made it out okay.

“I imagine there’s a lot of people feeling lucky today,” the employee said.

Prineville police and sheriff’s deputies also responded, as the collapse caused broken water and gas lines that maintenance crews were working to shut down.

“Due to an established collapse zone,” firefighters “were unable to survey the extent of the damage,” Kump said.

A supervisor told NewsChannel 21 that all 300 workers were sent home as officials were assessing the situation and planning what to do next. Kump said the company was working with its insurance company and structural engineers to determine the damages.

Shortly after 9 a.m. came word that the roof had collapsed on about half of an industrial building at 1559 SE Railroad Boulevard, south of Veterans Way and east of Highway 97 in Redmond.

Redmond Fire & Rescue crews arrived to find the southern part of the one-story structure had collapsed, said Fire Marshal Traci Cooper.

Power lines were damaged and natural gas was leaking from the building, while water flowed from the ruptured fire sprinkler system until firefighters were able to shut it down.

No one was working in the collapsed part of the building, Cooper said, and workers in the other end all escaped without injuries. She could not confirm the cause was snow-related as “I have no knowledge of the condition of the structure,” but called it likely “the snow was a contributing factor.”

Area residents reported a foot to even two feet of snow since Thursday in parts of the High Desert.