As much as 1 inch of water from a broken fire sprinkler flooded part of the University’s newest residence hall Wednesday night, forcing some residents to relocate as crews furiously worked to mop up.
Water covered the floors of about a dozen rooms on the third floor and dripped into rooms on the second floor of the north half of the Living Learning Center following the burst, which eyewitnesses said occurred when a resident threw a football into the sprinkler.
The broken sprinkler triggered the fire alarm, causing residents and kitchen workers to evacuate for several hours while Eugene firefighters and Department of Public Safety officials looked for the problem.
Firefighters shut off the broken sprinkler after about 15 minutes – enough time for it to dump roughly 225 gallons into the hallway.
Damage estimates were not available Wednesday, nor was it clear exactly how many residents would be forced to find beds elsewhere or when they would be allowed to return, said Michael Eyster, director of housing and interim vice president of Student Affairs.
“We’re trying to get it sucked up just as fast as we can,” Eyster said.
Eyster said DPS and University administrators would investigate the incident, although he was not sure what University rules would apply to breaking a sprinkler.
The incident began around 6:45 p.m. as two male residents of the third-floor, coed LLC hall played football in the hallway, said a University sophomore who declined to be identified for fear of retribution.
While playing, one of the men threw the ball into the sprinkler head.
“It blasted off, and water started rushing down,” the student said, adding that the force of the water was so great that the stream bounced off the floor.
Roughly a minute later, the fire alarm went off, ejecting residents into the chilly night as fire trucks raced to the residence hall along East 15th Avenue. Many residents huddled outside for more than an hour, while others sought shelter in nearby buildings.
At first, fire officials were not sure if the building was burning because the sprinkler system was in use, said Eugene Fire Department District Chief Joe Zaludek.
Once a DPS officer found the broken sprinkler, a firefighter shoved a wooden spike into it.
“These aren’t easy to shut down,” Zaludek said. “It creates a lot of damage when it actually gets out.”
An average of half an inch of water covered the floors, but as much as 1 inch accumulated elsewhere, Zaludek said.
University officials pulled cleaning crews from around campus to stem the flow to lower floors. Workers packed the third-floor hallway at about 9 p.m., using large water vacuums to suck up water and dump it into shower drains.
Three contractors will also work to remove water and fix the sprinkler system, which Zaludek expected to be online later Wednesday night.
If crews had not acted so quickly, water from the powerful sprinkler could have reached the first floor, Zaludek said.
Crews shut off some of the building’s electricity to prevent water from short circuiting electronics, and they covered computers and personal belongings in some second-floor rooms, such as that of freshman Phil Downing.
“I was writing a paper, too,” Downing said as he waited outside.
Eyster said students would slowly be allowed to return to gather some belongings before being relocated to open rooms.
Other residence halls have flooded in prior years following sprinkler bursts, he said.
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