I may have taken some of the only photos of the former St. Augustine’s after the collapse of the roof over the nave sometime in February and before the fire on the night of March 18th.
Honestly, it probably wasn’t a terribly good idea for my friend and I to be inside the heavily compromised structure at that time, and it sure as heck isn’t after the fire. Why am I seeing so many people taking photos of the interior after the fire?! Stop going in there; it’s not safe! Jeepers cripes!
Update: Analysis of photographs taken by a third party reveals that the roof was sagging badly before its collapse. Interior compromising of important structural elements due to water infiltration most likely led to the roof failure.
Anyway, as far as I could tell from the interior, the roof was probably lifted up by heavy winds and crashed down in a giant pile in the nave. The bell tower, as is typical, was constructed as a self-contained structural unit, and while there seems to be a little bit of collapse, it survived the damage to the main church.
As is common, the roof timbers were not attached to the brick curtain walls but were designed to fall out, as seen below. It was not sufficient to keep the front gable from being blown out; it must not have had any structural support left.
While there is a fair amount of structural steel present, it clearly wasn’t enough to keep the roof from suffering a full catastrophic collapse.
Note the column that fell over and is leaning against the tower.
Amazingly, the north transept’s vaulting was still surviving.
While the star vaulting had collapsed and the windows were destroyed by fire, the roofing had been holding in the apse. The giant arch over the entrance to the apse was still hanging on, too.
But it would not hold up to the fire.
Beautiful stained glass, destroyed by the first fire, could still be seen in fragments in the lancet windows of the apse.
The wood lathe covering the structural supports was being destroyed by the rain.
