A TERMITE infestation is being blamed for the collapse of a roof on an elderly woman in Payneham in South Australia.

The 84 year old, who is believed to have been trapped from the waist down in the rubble, managed to press her call alert button to notify her family and emergency services.

It took firefighters about half an hour to free the woman, who was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for assessment. She was discharged overnight.

The woman’s daughter returned to her mother’s home on Monday morning.  She said her mother initially thought the roof collapsing was thunder but then discovered her legs were trapped under the rubble.  She was freed and able to walk out but was taken to hospital to have her minor leg injuries assessed.

“She is fine, she was very lucky,” she said.

Neighbours said they were surprised to hear the elderly Italian lady, who had lived in the home for decades, was trapped under the ceiling rubble.

Gina Piro, who lives a few houses away, said she felt for the woman.  “She's probably very lucky, it’s very frightening for her, the poor woman,” she said.

She said it was a timely reminder for her to organise her annual termite check.  “We get it checked every year without fail ... we are due now,” she said.

But she said her family had lived in the area for decades and she had never heard of anyone ever having problems before.

Pest manager and neighbour Mark Wagner said he was horrified to hear the woman was injured.

“I think the lady was very lucky that she didn’t get hurt more,” he said.

“There’s extensive damage there is no doubt about that.”

From outside, Mr Wagner said the house had signs of previously being drilled to test for termites.

He encouraged other homeowners to check for signs of termite infestation and have regular professional checks.

“Looking for general signs, any sort of mudpacking around timber or any bubbling around wood, things like that.”

Another neighbour, builder Ben Tingali, said the termites were drawn to moisture.

“Basically moisture draws them to the timber, but once they are there they sort of make their nests and then they just go ahead and eat whatever is available,” he said.

He said it was unlikely for a 1950s double brick house to suffer such damage, but said the pests were likely to be drawn to the soft timber used in the roof.

Mr Tingali said any repair job in an existing house would be “pretty significant”.
“You don’t know what sort of structural damage has happened so you obviously have to get engineers involved and have it done correctly.”

Police said the woman was fortunate to escape with minor injuries.

(Article provided by The Advertiser – 31 August 2015)

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