In April of 1988 there were a thousand people inside the newly-opened Save-On-Foods at Metrotown in Burnaby, when the roof fell in.
Among those present was the then-mayor of Burnaby, Bill Copeland, who was one of 21 people who were injured when the rooftop parking collapsed into the store.
It happened during their grand opening celebration, and the mayor was there to give a speech. He would end up being credited for saving lives, and was heralded as a hero.
When the tragedy struck, the reflexes from his past work as a firefighter kicked in, and he helped evacuate people before they took him to the hospital as a victim himself.
20 cars ended up falling through the roof, and it was something of a miracle that nobody was killed. Four engineers were later found guilty of “incompetence, negligence or professional misconduct,” by the governing body that oversees engineers in BC.
And the Save-On location was known by locals as “Cave-On-Foods” until 2013 when its doors closed and the building was demolished.
This story first appeared in Issue 1 of my Now You Know BC Almanac. SUBSCRIBE NOW for $25 to receive the next issue in October, then one every 6 months after that.
