Excess snow is speculated to be the cause of a roof collapse at the Red Deer Lodge this past weekend.

At about 10:30 p.m., Red Deer Emergency Services received a call reporting a roof collapse at the hotel.

Upon arrival, it was determined that the flat roof over the ballroom area in the south portion of the facility was affected.

There were no injuries in the incident.

“On Saturday when our staff was setting up for a meeting to take place on Monday, they noticed a noise coming from the roof that wasn’t normal. I was alerted and the room was cleared out before the collapse. Thankfully everyone was safe and our guests were accommodated,” said John Mytz, general manager of the Red Deer Lodge.

“We have our structural engineer here from Edmonton assessing the damage and we’ll know more by the end of the week.”

The ballroom in which the collapse happened is about 10,000 sq. ft. Mytz said about one-third of the ballroom was affected by the incident.

“Our associates absolutely acted appropriately and the fire department was on the scene very quickly,” he said.

Power and gas was shut off to the affected area of the hotel and guests were relocated to other rooms within the facility where utilities remained operational.

The investigation as to what caused the roof collapse is underway. The cost of the damage has yet to be determined.

efawcett@reddeerexpress.com