Fans Too Much for Old Roof : Accident: About 50 band buffs crowd onto a garage, causing it to collapse. One person is slightly injured.

Twisto Frumpkin, a rhythm and blues band playing a neighborhood Independence Day bash near the beach, literally brought down the house Thursday afternoon.

Specifically, it was a roof full of spectators that collapsed.

Witnesses told authorities that they attempted to chase about 50 people from a garage roof at Orange and 10th streets before the wood-frame structure buckled under their weight about 4 p.m.

“It sounded like a tree falling in a forest,” said 24-year-old Steve Newman, an off-duty paramedic, who was watching from the top of a neighboring apartment building. “As soon as the roof went down, I ran down there to help.”

Authorities said only one person was injured in the collapse, 21-year-old Kelly Dufrhne of Huntington Beach, who was treated at Pacifica Community Hospital and released Thursday evening.

“I can’t believe there weren’t more people hurt,” said Fire Department Capt. John Van Dyke after inspecting the scene at 320 10th St. “The beer was flowing and they were rockin’ out.”

The captain estimated the one-story garage to be more than 50 years old and said that some parts of it had been weakened by rot. He added, however, that there was more than enough weight on the structure to bring it down.

“It was loaded up there,” Van Dyke said. “I understand many of them were dancing and jumping around. It’s not supposed to be a dance floor. That kind of weight would have collapsed a brand new roof.”

Like others who watched the concert from neighboring rooftops, witnesses said some spectators scaled the garage to view the band, which was playing in an enclosed back yard.

John Hemsley, 25, said he tried to clear people from the roof because he feared the garage would not support the weight.

“We cleared it off once, we got almost everybody off, but it was too late,” said Hemsley, who lives nearby. “It (the collapse) sounded like a bunch of people jumping on top of a 40-pound bag of potato chips. I guess the thing got tired of holding all that weight.”

Newman credited Hemsley with possibly limiting the number of injuries when he rushed to the damaged structure and switched off a gas line.

Band member Danny Wallis, 25, of Huntington Beach said the group had been playing for at least 45 minutes and even issued warnings a few times during the afternoon to people watching from their rooftop vantage points.

“We even have a song called ‘Get Off the Roof’,” Wallis said. “We played it twice.”

Van Dyke said the building has been declared a total loss, but because of the advanced age of the structure and its poor condition, he could not assign a value. He also said no criminal charges would be filed.

“Just another mistake by the kids,” the captain said.