Blown sprinkler head floods commissioners meeting room
The annual Butler Veterans Day Parade wasn't the only excitement on Saturday for the county commissioners. A construction crew was pouring cement outside the county Government Center. Inside, the commissioners conference room was getting soaked by a malfunctioning fire sprinkler.
City firefighters were called to the Government Center at about 1:30 p.m. after receiving an automatic alarm at the building.
Upon arrival, firefighters discovered three Uhl Construction workers pouring and finishing concrete immediately outside the front door.
The crew decided to pour the concrete on a Saturday because there would normally be no activity at the government center.
Because of the wet concrete, firefighters had to access the building via a back door on West Vogely Street near the Tier Parking Garage.
Commissioner Kevin Boozel said he was in his office answering some emails when he heard an alarm go off.
Thinking the construction workers might have accidentally tripped an alarm, Boozel checked the alarm system and discovered it was a real emergency.
Boozel said by the time he got downstairs to the commissioners meeting room on the first floor, city fire trucks were already on the scene.
When firefighters opened the meeting room door, which is on the first floor just north of the lobby, they saw water from a blown sprinkler head spraying into the room and drenching the commissioners dais, floor, chairs and walls.
Boozel was able to direct the firefighters to the main valve to shut off the water. He did not know how many gallons of water were pumped into the room.
“There's going to be some damage,” Boozel said. “There's two to three inches of water in the room.”
Boozel called county facilities and operations director John Campbell, who was also in the building, to assess the damage.
“I'm just glad it happened after the parade,” Boozel said as he used a wet/dry vacuum to suck up water from the lobby's marble floor. “I'm glad we were here.”
Firefighters were on the scene for about an hour helping to clean up the water.
