A row home roof collapsed in Bangor early Friday, leaving all six homes in the row condemned and leaving 17 people with no place to stay, according to the borough police chief.
The homes were 302 to 312 S. Main St., according to borough police Chief Scott Felchock. He said 308 S. Main St. was already condemned before the roof caved in. That home sustained the worst damage.
The home sustained a "roof to basement collapse," according to A.J. Suero, the regional communications manager for the Red Cross's Lehigh Valley/Bucks office.
Six row homes from 302 to 312 S. Main St. in Bangor are condemned after a roof collapse on Nov. 16, 2018.
"It's fortunate there weren't any injures," Felchock said.
Suero said the Red Cross was summoned to the roof collapse around 5 a.m., so the collapse was shortly before that.
Felchock said wet, slushy, piled-up snow and poor structural integrity are to blame for the collapse. All the homes were condemned by the borough code officer, he said.
Since row homes are built at the same time, they also decay at the same rate, Felchock noted.
"If one isn't well maintained, that can be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said.
The home that sustained the worst damage was vacant, Suero said. One other home was unoccupied, he said. He said four families were displaced by the collapsed roofs. The Red Cross will provide them with temporary lodging, Suero said.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.