Water Damage Forces Evacuation Of Senior Citizen Home
CENTER TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A sprinkler malfunction at a Center Township senior citizens' home forced residents to evacuate Tuesday afternoon.
It happened at the Center Township Senior Apartments building in the 3600-block of Broadhead Road around 2 p.m.
A malfunctioning sprinkler head on the third floor of the building caused extensive water damage to the first three floors.
"It was a large amount of water, heavy amounts, probably anywhere from an inch to 2 inches amount of water on the ground, standing water, laying there," Lt. Chris Shaffer, with the Center township Fire Dept., said.
"As far as I know, the water line broke up on the third floor and all the water just came running through the elevators and through the ceiling," evacuated resident Dorothy David said.
"The crews noticed a sprinkler head that was damaged, knocked off, with heavy amounts of water coming out of the sprinkler system. It caused flooding damage from the third, second and first floors," Shaffer said. "The whole building, including the common area space, all the hallways and some residents' apartments have been affected."
At least 50 residents were evacuated and will be out of their apartments for at least one night. Beaver County Transit Authority buses provided transportation, and the Red Cross assisted many residents.
No one was injured.
The restoration company was already on the scene around 5 p.m. to start cleaning up.
By Tuesday evening, investigators believed they had found the source of the sprinkler malfunction -- a ruptured water line.
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