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Monday, May 20, 2013 | 9:40 a.m.

Updated: 5:21 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008 | Posted: 7:58 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008

Olympia High School Roof Collapses



OLYMPIA, Wash. —

A large portion of the roof of an Olympia high school collapsed Christmas morning under the weight of snow, ice and water from recent storms.

KIRO 7 reported that the Olympia Fire Department responded just before 5 a.m. Thursday when alarms went off at Capitol High School, said Assistant Fire Chief Greg Wright.

About 2,500-square feet of roof collapsed and the building suffered water damage throughout its structure, fire officials said.

No one was in the building at the time of the collapse and there were no injuries, said Lt. Ralph Dunbar of the fire department.

Olympia School District officials wre working with the city and structural engineers to estimate the extent of the damage, the feasibility of stabilizing the collapse and what will be required to reopen the building, fire officials said.

Olympia building official Tom Hill said his initial inspection Thursday showed that a roof truss had broken. He said an engineer would need to take a closer look at the rest of the school's roof to make sure none of the other trusses have been damaged.

"Until they actually get in and begin some of the clean-up efforts, we won't be able to see if additional areas have been compromised or broken," Hill said.

The school's 1,450 students were scheduled to return from winter break on Jan. 5.

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