Wind Damages Derby Apartment House

The roof of an apartment house at the corner of Minerva and Third streets was badly damaged during Thursday morning’s wind storm, officials said.

A roofer was scheduled to examine the damaged roof this afternoon, said David Kopjanski, Derby’s building inspector.

The apartment house has 30 units. The residents can stay in the structure, Kopjanski said.

Update: The Valley United Way posted on Facebook Friday morning saying:

The American Red Cross is helping two people – one adult and one child – with emergency housing and food needs after they were displaced due to a damaged, leaking roof in a multi-unit building on Minerva Street in Derby.

The Red Cross is also providing comfort kits, containing age and gender appropriate personal care items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving supplies and other items a family might not have been able to gather in the rush to escape the fire. Children’s kits include a stuffed toy.”

The Derby Fire Department was sent to the apartment house at 5:20 a.m. after a resident called and said water was coming through the ceiling and sparks were coming out of the electrical outlets. The video above shows firefighters using a ladder truck to get onto the roof.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters, responding during a pounding rain, checked out the roof and saw tar paper had been lifted up and carried over the side of the building.

It was damaged severely. Portions of the membrane roofing have come loose from the decking below,” Kopjanski said. Portions of it are coming over the side of the building. Other portions of the membrane roofing on the Third Street side of the building have become unattached.”

Kopjanski said he spoke with property owner David Simonetti who said a roofing contractor, Morgan Roofing, would be checking out the damage Thursday.

The initial 911 call indicated water was coming into the building, but Kopjanski said water damage wasn’t a factor.

Keep local reporting alive. Donate.ValleyIndy.org