DON'T SLIP: Water from the flooded elevator shaft creates icy conditions in some parts of the parking terrace. / Photo by Gideon Oakes

By Gideon Oakes

January 29, 2007 | Students and staff who park in the new Aggie Terrace got an unplanned workout this weekend after a broken sprinkler head caused an elevator shaft to flood.

The sprinkler system in the "B" elevator shaft deployed after a sprinkler head froze and broke, said Rob Myers, project foreman for Parsons, the company building the Living and Learning Center complex.

Fire alarms sounded around 6 p.m. Friday. Even with the piercing noise of the alarms, there was an audible gushing of water coming from the elevator. Among those who initially responded were Myers, campus police and fire marshal Steve Bell.

The responders got the water stopped and the shaft drained. A sprinkler specialist was scheduled to come later to replace the head.

Bell said that this is the third time an event like this has occurred, but only the first time due to weather. The other instances were due to vandalism.

The terrace's dry-pipe system works on the principle that water doesn't constantly flow through the pipes, but rather compressed air. When a sprinkler head is breached, the air pressure is released, and water flows through the system. In the case of the elevator shaft, multiple heads deploy at once, causing a large amount of water to be released in a short amount of time.

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