Roof Collapses at Vons Market in Clairemont

It was 9:30 Sunday night when William Huey, a clerk at Vons Market in Clairemont, heard a loud rumbling noise on the roof that sounded like “a crate of food falling over.”

Huey and another man went up to the roof to investigate but didn’t see anything. Later, as he and other workers closed up the store, Huey noticed a large crack in the ceiling.

Then at 10:40 p.m.--one hour after the customers were gone and just five minutes after the last employee left the store--a 50-by-120-foot section of the roof collapsed, crashing down on the row of cash registers near the entrance of the store.

A Vons official Monday called it “an act of God” that no one was injured.

The market, at 3015 Clairemont Drive in the Clairemont Village Shopping Center, had closed at 9 p.m. As the store closed Sunday, approximately 50 customers had waited in the checkout lines--in the area where the roof collapsed.

Damage to the 39-year-old store and its contents could go as high as $500,000, Vons Vice President Tom Burns said. Nevertheless, he was happy.

“I’m elated,” Burns said. “That’s the best news I’ve heard . . . that no one was in the store.”

The cause of the collapse may never be known, city building department engineer Jim Rehoreg said. “Once something falls down, it’s hard to tell what caused it,” Rehoreg said.

The roof had been supported by wood and steel beams, he said. But it was impossible to tell which beam snapped first, he said; they all appeared to be in good condition.

The store, which has 75 employees, has been condemned until supports can be put into place to prevent further cave-ins, Rehoreg said.

San Diego fire officials had said earlier that the collapse may have been caused by rain collecting on the roof, but by noon they had ruled out rain as the cause.

Huey said he saw several small puddles of water on the roof when he went up to investigate the noise, but he too minimized their effect.

Vons employees worked through the night Sunday trying to salvage as much perishable food as possible, Burns said.

More than 90% of the $300,000 inventory was saved, county health department sanitarian Tom Bothast said. More than four truckloads of meat and other perishables were taken from the store, Burns said.

But broken water and gas lines caused some meat in open freezers to spoil, and the floor was flooded with about an inch of water, Burns said.

Burns said it will be at least 30 days before the store is reopened. Vons employees from the Clairemont store will work at other Vons stores while the roof is repaired, he said.

The investigation into the cause of the collapse will continue, city officials said.