Friday, July 16, 2010
Blacksburg school's builder maintains collapse a 'fluke'
The district's insurer said it will look into recovering money from any negligent builders.
MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times
Blacksburg High School stands idle Monday. The demolition of the gym is complete, but officials are trying to determine how best to proceed.
The collapse of the gym at Blacksburg High School was a "fluke," according to the man whose company served as general contractor on the project.
James "J.D." Fralin said he has not read investigative findings released this week that blame weak steel, poor welding of steel and inadequate design of the steel skeleton -- shortcomings that combined to drop the gym to the ground on Feb. 13 after 8 inches of snow piled up on the roof.
Even without digesting the official findings of structural failure, Fralin said Thursday he rejects any assertion that the building was not built correctly in 1974.
"Stood for 40 years. That seems like pretty good evidence that something was right," said Fralin, 74.
The entire school remains closed as officials also examine the safety of classroom areas after engineers, in the wake of the gym collapse, found six concrete beams that did not meet 1974 building codes.
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School board Chairman Wendell Jones has said he hopes students can return to the building, but that may require shoring up the support structure. If that's not possible, a new school might have to be built, taking several years and as much as $50 million.
High school students will attend classes this coming year at Blacksburg Middle School. Middle school students will go to the old Christiansburg Middle School.
Meanwhile, an official with the insurance company handling what will be a multimillion-dollar claim from Montgomery County Public Schools said the firm will look into recovering funds from any building contractor found "negligent."
Fralin vouched for two subcontractors whom his firm, Roanoke-based J.H. Fralin & Son, placed in charge of the steel work.
Fralin said the steel provider was a Lynchburg company with extensive experience and ability. The company could not be reached Thursday to confirm it provided the steel.
The steel erector was a North Carolina company with equally strong credentials, Fralin said. A company official had said before Thursday that the firm is under new ownership and he could not confirm any company involvement in the high school construction, due to the passage of 36 years.
But there was solid evidence of subcontractor issues at the $5.9 million high school.
Soon after it opened, the school began leaking through the roof. Fralin said in February that he traced the leaks to lapses by the project's roofing subcontractor.
The school board filed several lawsuits against Fralin's company, along with other contractors and suppliers involved in the high school's construction, in 1977. Three suits were settled out of court in 1978 with the defendants agreeing to pay $371,000 to provide the school with a new roof.
The school -- though not the gym -- got a new roof, Fralin said.
Asked whether other buildings, including several area schools, built by his firm and the steel subcontractors should be identified and inspected, he said: "No. No this was a fluke. We've been in business for 60 years. We've never had anything like this happen before in our life."
Montgomery County Public Schools qualifies for reimbursement for various damages resulting from the building failure, said Chris Carey, administrator of the Virginia Association of Counties Group Self Insurance Risk Pool.
Those include the loss of the gymnasium but also extraordinary expenses such as the cost of temporary school facilities.
Carey said he could not yet specify how much money the insurer will give the school district. As is customary, the insurer will analyze builder responsibility, he said.
"If there is any legal method for us to try to recover from a responsible party who may have been negligent in the construction of that building, we will make efforts to do that," Carey said.
One key question will be whether the risk pool can conceivably recover damages 36 years after the school's construction or whether recovery would be prohibited by expiration of a statue of limitations, or claims deadline.
