When you think of roofers, and roofing, you think about a roof being repaired or replaced. You think of stacks of shingle waiting to be installed and you think of crews working tirelessly to fix a roof before more issues arise. There’s another type of roofing you may not have heard of and it includes teenagers who are climbing to the heights of cranes, buildings and more for a thrill. This type of roofing, and the “roofers” behind it, are causing a panic across the world as they seek a high.
These roofers are causing disturbances, property damage and in some cases injuring themselves to try and outdo one another. In some cases, security concerns, are being highlighted by how easy it is to get to the top. In October of 2014, authorities recovered the body of a teenager that fell while base jumping. In September of 2014, a Chilean died base jumping and a Russian plunged to their death while wearing a wingsuit. These are just some of the instances that are highlighting the dangers involved in this type of roofing.
The latest incident comes as a teenager climbed to the top of a crane at an Implenia construction project. Two teenagers scaled to the top, took selfies and posted them on various social media networks. When questioned about the incident, one of the teenagers said he’d been roofing since he was 13 years old. While the term roofing now applies to base jumping throughout Europe, it hasn’t quite taken hold here in the United States.
There’s no explanation why roofing has become the term for base jumping in Europe, but it has taken hold. While base jumping has become a problem in the US, it’s not as rampant as it is in European cities. Let’s hope that roofing continues to mean repairing or replacing a roof in the US and not something that could potentially get people hurt or killed.
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