Heavy, wet snow causes three barns to collapse

Bob Truppe figured he cleared enough snow from the roof of his 96-year-old barn to keep it from caving in.

At 3 a.m. Jan. 7, the Moyie Springs man learned differently.

Awoken by a loud “wooosh,” Truppe immediately knew his barn had collapsed. Underneath the debris was his 1964 Ford Thunderbird, four-wheeler, a 1990 Subaru, tools and lawnmowers.

Last week’s thaw from the more than 50 inches of snow that had fallen since Dec. 12 accompanied with rain also resulted in the collapse of at least two buildings at Ball Creek Ranch nature preserve, said Justin Petty, who works at the Nature Conservancy-owned facility. Both buildings also crashed to the ground early Jan. 7.

Among them was an empty 5,000-square-foot, 50-year-old barn, Petty said. Another 4,000-square- foot building at West Side Road preserve also fell. Stored inside the barn were a fire truck, fuel truck, two tractors and tons of hay, he said.

“I was a little bit surprised,” neighbor Bill Lefebvre said about the smaller of the two buildings collapsing, which he says was built in the mid-1980s.  “It withstood severe winters in 1996-97 and last year.”

“It was actually in very good shape,” Petty added. “It was very surprising that it went down.”

The buildings on the 2,000-acre preserve are insured.

As for the larger building, it was empty because of its condition.

“It had received damage in the past from heavy snow and we already decided not to use this one,” Petty said.

Truppe was not so lucky. Although he had his barn on East Railroad Street insured for fire, it was not covered for snow damage.

A laid-off construction worker, Truppe spent three hours between Jan. 6 and Jan. 7  clearing snow from the roof.

“I had shoveled it half way up on both sides,” he said. “There wasn’t any indication it was going to collapse.”

Neighbor Darlene Billingsley, who has lived nearby for 53 years, said she heard a crash in the night, but wasn’t sure if it was a train or something from the Idaho Forest Group mill.

Billingsley understands the building was a former sawmill. It also was a door and window frame shop in the 1940s, Truppe said.

“It was kind of leaning a bit and that roof fell straight in,” Billingsley said. “I was glad it didn’t fall on the road.”

Truppe plans to clean up the debris and hopes to sell the weathered barn boards to make money to construct another building.

“I will take it down one piece at a time and burn it,” he said. “It will be the eternal flame of Moyie.”