Sprinkler malfunction dumps 2,000 gallons of water inside middle school

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    Fredericktown, Missouri (Daily Journal) — Cold temperatures may be responsible for a sprinkler system malfunction that dumped approximately 2,000 gallons of water inside Kelly A. Burlison Middle School in Fredericktown Tuesday morning.

The Fredericktown Fire Department responded to a call at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday to Kelly A. Burlison Middle School.

Fredericktown Fire Chief John Clark said upon arrival, they found the sprinkler system had malfunctioned, dumping approximately 2,000 gallons of water inside the school. Areas impacted included the library, front offices, cafetorium and front entrance.

“It was right beside the front door so a lot of the water was going outside and then some of it backed up into the office, library and a bit into the cafetorium,” Fredericktown Superintendent Chadd Starkey said.

The fire department remained on scene to assist with the cleanup and to squeegee the school.

“We are in the process of finishing up, we are drying the carpet tiles,” Starkey said. “It could have been a lot worse. The fire department reacted very quickly so that helped.”

Starkey said the floors are concrete under the carpet tiles and completely concrete in the cafetorium so it was not nearly as bad as it could have been.

“It never got into anything other than the carpet tiles and we are vacuuming the water up,” Starkey said. “We’ve used shop vacs and we’ve got a high-powered suction pump and some real big fans. We will get it dried out pretty quickly.”

Starkey said the district is already planning to not have school on Wednesday due to current road conditions.

“This was good and bad,” Starkey said. “We didn’t have kids there and we were able to clean it up. Now we have a couple days here to get it all dried out so that helps a little bit too.”

Starkey said all of the custodians pitched in and with the help of the fire department, they were able to get all the stuff moved out of the way and the water sucked up.

Clark said at this time, it could be assumed the malfunction was due to the cold temperatures.

Temperatures have dipped into the negatives over the past several days with a snowstorm on Monday dumping about six inches of snow in the area. The school was closed Monday for President’s Day and on Tuesday for the inclement weather.

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