Minnesotans Head East To Melt Boston’s Extreme Ice Dams

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The snow that has buried parts of New England and left homeowners struggling with ice dams has created opportunities for Minnesota companies that melt ice off roofs but have found little work at home in their state's unusually mild winter.

Jesse Lofgren of Monticello says he's spent the past two days working on a Boston nursing home that he estimates has thousands of square feet of ice dams built up on the roof.

Lofgren says Bostonians are getting desperate. He says he sees people making the mistake of using blunt-force objects such as hammers, chisels and screwdrivers, even sledgehammers and axes.

Boston homeowner Gil Dos Santos says he hired a Minnesota company that charged $500 an hour to clean his roof, and it took five hours.