Slip Sliding Away
Roofs are collapsing around town, the latest incident displaced five families
An apartment complex housing five families and two businesses saw its roof collapse on Wednesday, February 8 at around 2:00 p.m.
The Sheet arrived on scene shortly after Mammoth Lakes Police Department, Mammoth Lakes Fire Department, Mono County Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics extricated residents still trapped in the building, located at 2065 Sierra Nevada Rd.
Mammoth Lakes Fire Department Captain Natalie Morrow, the Incident Commander, told The Sheet that “There were occupants inside the building when [MLFD] arrived on scene. Captain [Robert] Williams got occupants out of units two and five.”
When The Sheet arrived, smoke could be seen billowing from wood stove chimneys torn asunder by the roof slide. “There were some safety concerns for us getting in and out of the building,” said Morrow. “Our main concern was getting people out safely. Then we made sure to extinguish the wood burning stoves.”
The complex is directly behind Roberto’s restaurant, and Mammoth Lakes Police Department officers were asking patrons and employees of Roberto’s to move their cars due to the danger of the western side of the building sliding as well.
Ed Schuyler, owner of the apartment complex, said it was about ten minutes from the time he noticed a crack in the roof until the entire thing slid. “We looked at [the south] side, and it had a crack about 2-4 inches wide. Then we walked over to [the north] side, and it had a crack about 4-6 inches wide. Then it just went.”
Manuel Villalobos was inside his unit taking a nap when the roof detached. “I do snow removal at Snowcreek, so I was working [through the night],” Villalobos told The Sheet immediately after the incident. “My son was on the porch outside of our unit, and he saw a big gap in the ceiling, so he ran inside and woke me up. I told my other kid to grab his shoes and go. My one son was hit by a piece of plywood as we ran down the stairs.
