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2 men die after falling off temple roof while clearing snow

22 Comments

Two men died Monday after falling off the roof of Jofuku Temple in Takasu, Hokkaido, while removing snow.

According to police, the men fell at around 11 a.m. TBS reported that they were found dead, covered in snow about an hour after firefighters arrived.

Polic the two men, who were in their 60s, were part of a four-man team clearing snow from the temple roof.

Temperatures were unseasonably high across Japan on Monday and the Japan Meteorological Agency has warned people to be careful of falling snow as it thaws.

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22 Comments
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Doug, these guys may well have been doing this every year as volunteers.

Not related but these days, being your 60s is not really that old. Lots of guys I know in their late 50s and 60s who are very fit and would put a lot of young people to shame.

8 ( +9 / -2 )

Let's leave the Snow on the ROOF, it will melt off, better the cealing CAVE IN than DIE falling off it.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Removing snow from the roof is a very important task in snow country. Please be careful.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

A simple suggestion to those contemplating clearing the snow off their roof, rope!

One of my neighbours has a neat trick, he's got a few thin wires strung across the roof. When the snow gets too thick he attaches a car battery to a cord connected to the wires. The wires heat up (resistance and all that) and the snow slides off as it is neatly cut into sections by the heated wired. He doesn't have to climb up and is safely out of the way indoors when it falls down.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

EXCELLENT suggestion Frungy; just make SURE you're wearing GLOVES when you connect the wires to this DC Current, it can KILL you, just as fast, or FASTER than falling off the ROOF.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

WWhen saying that someone in their sixties is to old to be clearing snow from roofs in my late fuifties I was still putting young soldiers to shame that I could climb mountains better than they could even with full gear.

Anyone can clear snow from roofs however they must have the safty lines on them so they do not fall to their deaths.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

If the roof is steep enough it will just slide off all by itself. Houses in the European Alps tend to have inverted "V" shaped roofs.

No doubt there is a logical reason why Japan has never employed this tactic. Probably that traditional roof tiles would be too heavy for this style.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

WA4TKGFeb. 03, 2014 - 08:52PM JST EXCELLENT suggestion Frungy; just make SURE you're wearing GLOVES when you connect the wires to this DC Current, it can KILL you, just as fast, or FASTER than falling off the ROOF.

I don't think that connecting this sort of thing to the main power supply would be such a good idea, that sort of current could melt the wires rather than just heating them up.

The guy next door uses a car battery, and while a car battery can give you a bit of a shock it won't kill you (unless you've already got a bad heart or are using a pacemaker). I think he gets the car battery charged up every now and again at the local gas station, and he uses the same sort of clamps you use to jump start cars (the ones with the rubber grips and the nasty looking teeth - sorry, I don't know what their proper name is), so I think the risk of getting shocked if probably about the same as if you were charging a dead car battery.

All in all the wire idea seems a lot safer than climbing up on top of your roof when it is covered in slippery snow. You'd still have to climb up at least once though to install the wire, but that beats climbing up every couple of weeks during winter for the next 10 years. I'm not sure how long the wire lasts, it looks pretty thin and is very hard to see unless you know it is there, so I'm guessing it needs to be replaced every few years when it gets rusted (does rust interfere with conductivity? Not really sure...).

Anyway, I've seen the system in action and it works like a charm and I'd say at a guess it clears about 70~80% of the snow off his roof in about 30 minutes (he seems to only leave the battery on for about that long, but I'm not sure if that's because the wires will melt if its left on longer, or because that's the battery's power limit, or if he's just happy with the result after that amount of time). It takes a couple of minutes for the wire to heat up, then the snow begins to shift and as it slides it hits the wires it gets heated up, sliced into smaller chunks and most of it just slides off happily.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

No doubt there is a logical reason why Japan has never employed this tactic. Probably that traditional roof tiles would be too heavy for this style.

There has been use of such a design shape in Japan. Gassho-zukuri houses with steeply pitched 'prayer hands' roofs to be found in the Shokawa Valley. They embody thatch though rather than roof tiles, thus overcoming the weight problem. An example is also to be seen in Hida Folklore Village, just outside Takayama.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

RIP, I was thinking of a roof heating system that could melt the snow so clearing the roof could be done without risk. Like indoor heaters, attached to the roofs interior, if there is electricity. if not maybe a kerosene heater to heat a loft if there is a loft maybe might help. But Frungy's neighbor has a great idea that works

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As I was discussing this issue this very morning with a younger friend who operates a successful roofing company, all we could do was shake our heads at the stupid risk-taking of the ignorant, volunteer or not.

Take it from someone who has been on more than a thousand roofs, fallen off one and lived (and who just turned 60), it's sheer idiocy to get up on a roof, in the snow, and try to clear it off without a safety harness which is properly attached to a rope and a securely fastened anchor.

Every time I read one of these stories - and they seem to happen a lot in Japan - I can only shake my head and wonder at how some people can be so careless about their own safety and the grief they'll inflict on others with their mindless mistakes.

Sorry to sound so cruel, but it's a fact - rookies on roofs are reckless.

May they both rest in peace.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Some basic training in rock climbing and a few simple, inexpensive pieces of equipment would save a lot of pain and problems.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Given the large amount of people that die every year from this I am really surprised that nobody has come up with some form of a better method to do this similar to what Frungy suggested. Perhaps something slightly safer than hooking it up directly to a battery, but can they not manufacture heating strips that clip onto the roof tops? Why are there not more professional companies that people can hire to do this job? Better to spend a little extra money if it prevents someone from falling to their death. This happens far too frequently every year just like people choking to death on mochi. The only thing that is preventing it from not happening is pure stubbornness.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Do they get a free pass to heaven because they were working on a temple?

Seriously, this roof thing is a bit much. Why don't people take more care?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

The guy next door uses a car battery, and while a car battery can give you a bit of a shock it won't kill you (unless you've already got a bad heart or are using a pacemaker).

Correct. The DC current of an automobile battery will not kill a person unless maybe directly connected to the heart. Since, there is no chance of that, there is little chance of loss of life.

However, while this system works for your neighbor, I am not sure if it is applicable to many elderly people who might not be mechanically inclined. It also might not be applicable to a large area such as a temple roof.

There are actually systems that you can have installed on your roof that melt the snow using warm water. The best part is all you have to do is flip a switch in your home. Many towns offer subsidies to offset the cost of purchasing and installing them.

Here is a video of one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7LfOK6avLE

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I come from a very snowy place and it's quite common there to see roofs with metal sheeting about two feet wide all along the edge of the roof. The idea is that it reflects the sun, warms up the snow and gets it to slide off quite easily. People also use a kind of metal scraper with a handle that can be lengthened so you just stand near the house, garage or whatever structure you're removing snow from and scrap it off. With that particular device, you don't need to go on the roof. I've used it before and it works quite nicely plus the handle is long enough that you don't have to be too close to the structure, which helps you stay dry!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

slumdogFeb. 04, 2014 - 12:12PM JST There are actually systems that you can have installed on your roof that melt the snow using warm water. The best part is all you have to do is flip a switch in your home. Many towns offer subsidies to offset the cost of purchasing and installing them.

Just a question, but doesn't this run the risk of shattering the ceramic tiles on traditional Japanese houses? I know they must have thought up a way around this, but I'm just thinking that running even moderately warm water over roof tiles chilled to -4 degrees would be a bad idea.

What is the work-around? Do they start with cold water and gradually heat it up or something? I'm just curious.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

doesn't this run the risk of shattering the ceramic tiles on traditional Japanese houses?

The house in the YouTube video doesn't seem to have ceramic tiles, though....When I lived in a little village in Hokuriku yonks ago, many of the streets had little holes along the centre of the road from which water could be squirted to keep the road free of snow.

Snow country - natsukashii na.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

cleoFeb. 04, 2014 - 09:59PM JST The house in the YouTube video doesn't seem to have ceramic tiles, though....When I lived in a little village in Hokuriku yonks ago, many of the streets had little holes along the centre of the road from which water could be squirted to keep the road free of snow.

Yeah, we have those here... and they're great... sortof... provided you're not unfortunate enough to be on a bicycle and they're misaligned spraying water all over you.

The funniest thing is watching "maintenance" on them during Autumn... its two old guys. One of them is the supervisor and tests them, then the other guy has a hammer and if the spray isn't working or isn't coming out right he beats it with the hammer until it starts working correctly. I swear that's all they do. There isn't another tool in sight, just a hammer and an old guy working out rage issues on some sprinklers in the road.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just a question, but doesn't this run the risk of shattering the ceramic tiles on traditional Japanese houses?

The system I saw on the news a couple of days ago was being used on one of those types of houses and seemed to be having no negative effect on the tiles. I tried looking for a related article on that, too. But I can't seem to remind which network I saw it on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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