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Members of the Blacksburg Fire Department use a bucket truck to investigate the collapsed gymnasium of Blacksburg High School on Saturday..jpg)
Onlookers watch as volunteer firefighters examine the collapsed gymnasium at Blacksburg High School. Basketball practice was held in the gym Saturday morning, but no one was in the building at the time of the collapse.School officials said no one was inside the building when the roof collapsed Saturday afternoon.
Onlookers watched from behind police tape at Blacksburg High School on Saturday, shocked at the bent beams and gaping openings that were once the school's roof.
"I'm kind of shocked that half of my high school is under rubble," said Kayleigh Coleman, a 2008 graduate.
Lt. Joe Davis of the Blacksburg Police Department said dispatchers received the first call about the roof collapse at 1:37 p.m.
"It's pretty much a total collapse of the gym roof at the high school," Davis said.
Jack Hencke, the school's athletic director, said that judging from the photos he was shown, it appeared the gym was a total loss.
Montgomery County School Board Chairman Wendell Jones said no one was in the building at the time of the collapse.
Police set up tape around the perimeter of the school and blocked entrances shortly after arriving to the scene, allowing only emergency personnel to enter.
Firefighters surveyed the damage from bucket trucks above the school as Blacksburg fire and police vehicles, ambulances and a Blacksburg Transit bus stood by in front of the building.
Investigators were on the scene well into the evening, but they did not release a cause of the collapse.
It is not the first roof collapse at a school this winter. On Dec. 21, a section of the cafeteria roof at Roanoke County's Fort Lewis Elementary School collapsed under the weight of 18 inches of snow that fell Dec. 18-19.
Blacksburg has had more than 50 inches of snow this winter and 28 inches since Jan. 29, according to the National Weather Service.
Many passers-by whipped out camera phones, digital cameras or camcorders to capture the damage from across the street. Vehicles along Patrick Henry Drive slowed as drivers tried to catch a glimpse.
Coleman lives blocks from Blacksburg High School and rushed over to see the damage when a friend told her about the roof collapse.
Once she arrived and saw the roof for herself, Coleman said she was relieved to learn that no one was hurt during the collapse.
Jordan Evans lives less than a mile from the school and said he was thankful that the collapse occurred on a Saturday and not during school hours.
The girls basketball team held a practice there Saturday morning, hours before the roof collapsed. The boys team played its final home game of the season the night before.
Math teacher Jeanette Delpercio said she was shocked to read a school e-mail Saturday telling all faculty and staff not to return to the school until engineers deemed it safe. After driving to the school to get a glimpse from a distance, what she saw was worse than she expected.
"It looks awful. I wish I could get closer to see how bad it is on the inside," she said.
Delpercio said her classroom is on the opposite end of the building.
Jones said Saturday evening that the main concern as the investigation continued was to secure the building with perimeter fencing and restore power to portions of the building that didn't collapse to avoid future damage.
"With temperatures dropping this evening, you run the risk of something freezing," Jones said. "The longer you keep the building unheated, it's not a good situation."
Jones didn't have information on whether Blacksburg High School would remain closed after the Montgomery County school system observes the Presidents Day holiday Monday.
Blacksburg's boys will now play their first-round River Ridge District basketball game against Christiansburg High School at Christiansburg. The Blacksburg girls will play their game with Pulaski County High School at Pulaski. Both games are scheduled for Monday.
Onlookers watched from behind police tape at Blacksburg High School on Saturday, shocked at the bent beams and gaping openings that were once the school's roof.
"I'm kind of shocked that half of my high school is under rubble," said Kayleigh Coleman, a 2008 graduate.
Lt. Joe Davis of the Blacksburg Police Department said dispatchers received the first call about the roof collapse at 1:37 p.m.
"It's pretty much a total collapse of the gym roof at the high school," Davis said.
Jack Hencke, the school's athletic director, said that judging from the photos he was shown, it appeared the gym was a total loss.
Montgomery County School Board Chairman Wendell Jones said no one was in the building at the time of the collapse.
Police set up tape around the perimeter of the school and blocked entrances shortly after arriving to the scene, allowing only emergency personnel to enter.
Firefighters surveyed the damage from bucket trucks above the school as Blacksburg fire and police vehicles, ambulances and a Blacksburg Transit bus stood by in front of the building.
Investigators were on the scene well into the evening, but they did not release a cause of the collapse.
It is not the first roof collapse at a school this winter. On Dec. 21, a section of the cafeteria roof at Roanoke County's Fort Lewis Elementary School collapsed under the weight of 18 inches of snow that fell Dec. 18-19.
Blacksburg has had more than 50 inches of snow this winter and 28 inches since Jan. 29, according to the National Weather Service.
Many passers-by whipped out camera phones, digital cameras or camcorders to capture the damage from across the street. Vehicles along Patrick Henry Drive slowed as drivers tried to catch a glimpse.
Coleman lives blocks from Blacksburg High School and rushed over to see the damage when a friend told her about the roof collapse.
Once she arrived and saw the roof for herself, Coleman said she was relieved to learn that no one was hurt during the collapse.
Jordan Evans lives less than a mile from the school and said he was thankful that the collapse occurred on a Saturday and not during school hours.
The girls basketball team held a practice there Saturday morning, hours before the roof collapsed. The boys team played its final home game of the season the night before.
Math teacher Jeanette Delpercio said she was shocked to read a school e-mail Saturday telling all faculty and staff not to return to the school until engineers deemed it safe. After driving to the school to get a glimpse from a distance, what she saw was worse than she expected.
"It looks awful. I wish I could get closer to see how bad it is on the inside," she said.
Delpercio said her classroom is on the opposite end of the building.
Jones said Saturday evening that the main concern as the investigation continued was to secure the building with perimeter fencing and restore power to portions of the building that didn't collapse to avoid future damage.
"With temperatures dropping this evening, you run the risk of something freezing," Jones said. "The longer you keep the building unheated, it's not a good situation."
Jones didn't have information on whether Blacksburg High School would remain closed after the Montgomery County school system observes the Presidents Day holiday Monday.
Blacksburg's boys will now play their first-round River Ridge District basketball game against Christiansburg High School at Christiansburg. The Blacksburg girls will play their game with Pulaski County High School at Pulaski. Both games are scheduled for Monday.
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