After being damaged by storm and wind, crews prep Fairmont Jacobs Building for more rainfall

Apr. 19—FAIRMONT — Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night, Fred C. Young, maintenance supervisor, got a phone call that chilled his blood.

The roof of the Bauer Building, next to the election center, was gone. Two million dollars worth of voting equipment was stored in the Bauer Building as a thunderstorm battered buildings all over town.

Fortunately, when Young arrived it wasn't the Bauer Building that had its roof sheared off. It was the building adjacent, which lay vacant. A police cruiser rolled up to the Bauer Building.

"Two windows were busted out of the cruiser," Young said. "I asked him, 'Well, what happened?' He said, 'the bricks fell off the Jacobs Building.' And I said, 'over at our place,' and he said, 'Yeah.' So I was like, 'OK, we got problems over there.'"

After a short drive over to the George Jacobs Building, at 310 Monroe St. in Fairmont, Young got up on the roof.

"There was bricks laying in the alley and there was glass from his windows laying in the alley," Young said. "When I went up on the roof, about half the roof was just blown off."

The thunderstorm that rolled through Marion County ripped the waterproof cover off of the George Jacobs Building, exposing delicate sections of the roof to wind and rain. By morning, a drone inspection revealed the cover was tossed aside like a sleeper throwing off a comforter after waking.

Brick littered the roof, blown off of the parapet rimming the roof's edge.

The building houses the WVU Extension Services office, the sheriff's office and probation services.

Young spent all morning finding a crew willing to take on the job of securing the roof cover before the thunderstorms return Friday night. By midday, Tri-State Roofing and Sheet Metal Group had answered the call.

County Administrator Kris Cinalli said Marion County was lucky to find a company who could come out on short notice.

"Right now they're up there trying to secure all this part," Cinalli said, looking over drone photos of the damage. "They can only do about 90% because it's got to be anchored here. They can only do so much until this gets fixed. That's going to be a couple days. Hopefully not too too long, but they're up there, just trying to secure this the best they can for the next round of storms or rain."

Repairs on this preliminary part will cost roughly $30,000 to $35,000, according to Cinalli. Once the storms pass, the building will have to be checked for further water damage.

Cinalli said some water penetrated deep into the building. Since the wood covering the roof was soaked, that may have to be replaced, he said.

Down in the adjoining alley, brick lay on the ground where it fell. Repair crews blocked off the alley for safety. A crane brought by Capital City Crane sat next to the building in the alleyway, assisting workers with the repairs.

The Marion County Public Library sits across the street from the Jacobs Building.

"We did not sustain any damage," Becky Baldwin from the Marion County Public Library said. "I think just walking around this morning there wasn't anything that was noticed."

Only one other building suffered damage, according to Cinalli. One of the abandoned buildings in Palatine Park had its roof completely sheared off by the storm. Since the building has no window panes, Cinalli suspects a blast of air entered the building and pushed up on the roof, which was then carried away by the storm. Beyond the Jacobs and Palatine Park buildings, no other damage appears to have occurred.

The roofing crew worked to place a patch over the roof to keep it dry. Cinalli hopes the work would be done by the end of the day, but was 50/50 on the possibility.

Although no other buildings were hit, there was other damage in the area. The West Virginia Division of Highways closed Bunner Ridge Road at milepost 1.73, as was Ranch Road at milepost 1.7, according to a press release. Crews worked to remove power lines and branches that fell into the road during the storm.

Young finished placing the waterproof patch on the roof around 7 p.m. on Thursday. For now, the roof can withstand the next round of storms that will arrive Friday night. Young said Kirk Naternicola, of Naternicola Masonry, will begin tearing down the brick parapets lining the roof on Friday so that Tri-State Roofing can return to reroof the entire structure properly.

Young was thankful for the fast response Tri-State Roofing performed.

"I called them just this morning, and within within four hours, they were here and started working on it," he said. "Without Tri-State we'd be in trouble for tomorrow."

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com