Engineers exonerate snow in B'burg school collapse

The engineering firm eyeing the February 13 collapse of the snow-covered gymnasium at Blacksburg High School is placing blame on a yet-unstated structural problem with the truss seats that were supposed to hold up the roof. So it wasn't a case of an overloaded roof, says the preliminary report of Forcon International, according to the Roanoke Times. Even though Charlottesville's 84 Lumber also suffered a roof swoon amid the winter snowfall, the gymnasium collapse was probably Virginia's most high-profile structural failure over the winter.