Maintenance provider Swift Aviation Services, located at Norwood Memorial Airport (Mass.), suffered a roof cave-in of one of its hangars on February 2, evidently the result of the weight of accumulated snow exacerbated by freezing rain. The hangar appeared to be totaled and some of the six light airplanes and a helicopter that were inside when the roof collapsed were destroyed, according to observers on the scene. Two people inside the building during the cave-in escaped without injury.

Representatives for Swift Aviation Services did not return requests for comments, but airport manager Russ Maguire told AIN that “to the best of my knowledge, this has not happened on Norwood Airport before.” Maguire said that right after the collapse of the 30,000-sq-ft hangar, “I recommended that if a business were located in a facility with a roof in question, or susceptible to collapsing, to consider the most appropriate–and perhaps, conservative–action. This could include closing the office/hangar and vacating the facility until its roof could be properly assessed for structural integrity.”

The Northeast has been hit by several snowstorms this winter, causing the collapse of flat roofs on numerous buildings in the region.