School’s wood shop collapses

Roof trusses for the Coeur d’Alene School District’s new wood shop on Fourth Street collapsed Friday, blowing out the newly framed walls and toppling the entire structure.

“It was an unbelievably freak accident,” said Bryan Martin, the district’s maintenance director.

Nobody was injured in the 1 p.m. accident on the corner of Fourth and Hazel Avenue.

Martin said a crew with Horvath Construction was setting the roof trusses and for some reason they moved, causing a domino effect. “Down it went,” Martin said.

The district is building the 5,000-square-foot shop to use for cabinet making and other wood-working projects. The shop is just north of the district’s maintenance department and Midtown Center, which is where the school board meets.

Martin said the accident should only delay construction time by about a week. No cost estimate for the damage was available.