Water Leak Causes Student Union Evacuation

A pipe burst on the southeast corner of the Student Union (SU) Sunday evening, forcing facilities operations to close the entire building for the night.

"It was a pipe in a unit heater on the top floor of the southeast corner of the building," said Karen Grava, a spokesman for the university.

The pipe had froze and burst on a stairwell, according to Grava.

Everyone in the SU was forced to evacuate after a fire alarm went off around 5:30. A fire truck and two university facilities operations vehicles showed up on scene.

After the building was evacuated, the SU remained closed to clean up the damage the burst pipe had caused.

"They [had] to shut off the water to the south side of the building and [had] to keep that out until they solder in a new piece," Grava said.

"They have already cleaned up the mess," Grava said just before 8 p.m. Sunday. "We have a great emergency crew. They get there as soon as they can, but these things happen."

Grava could not say when the new pipe would be put in.

Before the fire alarm went off, one side of the Union Street Marketplace had been closed off before the building was evacuated, as the Marketplace tried to keep the other side open. Employees placed buckets strategically collect the flowing water.

"When I walked in [the food court], the whole side was roped off, and there was a steady flow of water from the ceiling," said Brian Sherman, a 4th-semester exploratory major.

"The whole pizza area was just a downpour," said Kassie Tillem, a 6th-semester human development and family studies major who was in line at the SU food court around 5 p.m.

"We were going to eat there for dinner," Tillem said. "There were people who were waiting in line forever and didn't get food. They [food court workers] were making people pay who had food and then evacuate."

When the fire alarm went off, it took a while for students to evacuate. SU staff went around the building and told people to leave.

"It was pretty amusing how no one was leaving [when the alarm went off]," Sherman said. "I followed procedure and left the building."

"The people in line seemed pretty irritated, but everyone else seemed pretty apathetic," Sherman said.

"I felt that the managerial staff was good at telling people to leave," Tillem said.

Hours later, around 7 p.m., people walked up to the doors of the SU, only to be disappointed with signs that read "Student Union Closed. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Meetings in the SU were either moved or cancelled.

Grava could not say when the SU would open again.

Employees inside the SU last night could not make any statements.

When called by The Daily Campus, the fire department and the police department would not comment.

Both departments said all statements about the incident must be made by either the fire chief or Major Ron Blicher, the public information officer for university public safety, who would not be in the office until Monday morning.