Inspectors look for other risks After arena collapse
Halfway point reached in inspections following collapse of Fairview arena
Inspectors have completed checking about half of the city’s arenas after a roof collapse at the Fairview Arena last month, and say “no threats to public safety have been found.”
Following the collapse, the city began inspecting the approximately 40 city-owned-and-operated and city-owned-and-partner-operated arenas built from the 1960s to the 1980s, Marco Civitarese, manager of building regulations with the city, said in a statement.
By the end of day on Friday, 20 had been given the all-clear by inspectors.
Civitarese said two teams of two inspectors each have been visually inspecting the arenas and the work will continue this week.
The Fairview Arena was built in 1972. On the day before the collapse, practising hockey players evacuated the building after hearing cracking noises.
The roof came down shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 21. The building was empty and nobody was injured.
Last week, Civitarese told Postmedia he has doubts the collapse was caused by heavy snowfall, adding arenas in Calgary are built with safety features designed to handle the city’s winter weather.
Civitarese said damaged parts of the Fairview Arena still need to be removed to ensure the safety of inspectors, and the city is working on the selective demolition of the building to determine what caused the cave-in.
“In other words, we’re taking down anything that is still at risk of collapsing, so we can safely get in there and investigate the cause of the roof collapse,” Civitarese said.