AFD on scene 409 Main Street for burst sprinkler pipes
The recent arctic weather brought even more work to an already overburdened Amherst Fire Department with calls for help dealing with burst water pipes numbering around 40-- many of them in large commercial or academic buildings where the sprinkler systems were the culprit.
AFD on scene UMass Goodell Library for burst sprinkler pipe
Yes, commercial sprinklers are located in the ceilings of buildings and heat does rise. But a sprinkler system is designed to cover everything so all it takes is one small area where insulation is sub par.
Kind of like a frozen pond that has a tributary stream entering it so the ice is a lot thinner at that one spot and far more dangerous for an unsuspecting skater.
AFD on scene Applewood Retirement Community for burst sprinkler pipe
Atkins Market, Applewood Retirement Community, UMass Goddell Library, Amherst College Merrill Science Center and a bevy of smaller commercial buildings all suffered the major hassle of freezing water raining down from above.
In addition AFD had two almost simultaneous box alarms during the lunch hour on Tuesday that tied up the entire on duty shift, one at UMass North Village family housing and a chimney fire in a residence on Flat Hills Road.
AFD on scene for box alarm UMass North Village Apartments
AFD on scene Flat Hills Road for a chimney fire
An emergency medical call for an elderly woman needing transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital had to be handled by an ambulance from Northampton Fire Department because the two box alarms tied up all available AFD personnel.
Pine tree fell on car South East Street 4:45 PM Tuesday
NFD mutual aid would be required two more times before Tuesday was done.
Severe 1 car crash into utility pole sent 4 occupants to Baystate Hospital closing Rt 9 overnight. Photo via Hadley PD Facebook
A severe one car crash into an Eversource utility pole on Rt9 in Hadley last night required three AFD ambulances and one from NFD. All four victims were transported to Baystate in Springfield rather than nearby Cooley Dickinson Hospital because of the severity of their injuries.
So no, it's not just weekend drunk college students that overwhelm the Amherst emergency response system.
UMass and Amherst College heating plants were working overtime
7 comments:
Just so we are clear,
Heat does not rise. Heat goes from Hot to Cold. I am sure the AFD can make this clear.
Hot Air is more buoyant than cool air and thus lofts above it as it is less dense. The heat is not moving itself, the air is moving the heat with it as the air moves due to the properties of air at different temperatures at a given pressure and humidity.
In America, when your pipes burst, you call the plumber, in Amherst, you call the government? Now I get all the Comrade talk.
I appreciate that you point out the extended costs of these public buildings that are often put incorrectly in another column, the fire department. Perhaps, especially given the lifespan of these buildings, and the high level of responsibility that the public officials have for creating these buildings and taking care of them, that they are and should be designed for our climate. Shouldn't this fall under building design or lack there of? This way it will not effect the fire budget and we know who to blame or sue so that they pay for their crappy work.
Larry, can you get any information on the people that designed these buildings, the town officials that approved the designs or the town officials that were responsible for being stewards of the public's finances so that failures like this don't happen. It would look great in a spreadsheet of responsibility presented to the public getting screwed by bad performance of those that should have avoided this. The weather did not cause this, poor design and upkeep caused this, poor oversight of the group that has taken over buildings in town, the town itself.
I have never built a building where the pipes have frozen, in Amherst or in much colder climates. This is a description of incompetence in building planning and the responsible parties should be called out and in fact made to pay for their mistakes. It most certainly should not be the public, they already paid to have it done right the first time.
AFD stand up for your budget as the people likely will not notice this, don't let incompetent folks in other departments take away your budget so they can do crap work and still get paid, it actually matters to peoples' safety.
AFD is now at an Amherst Woods residence (a Jeffery Flower development) for a flooded basement due to burst water pipe.
The owners are away so the housekeeper just now discovered it.
She called a plumber first but he said to call AFD to shut off the water and make sure it was safe before he would show up.
If I am not mistaken, a burst sprinkler pipe trips a flow flapper (or such thing) in the feed line (as would also happen in an actual fire with sprinklers activated) and that trips a box alarm with the FD. Per code.
So the AFD gotta roll -- and only they are allowed to shut off the system.
And a lot of this is caused by people skimping on heat -- but the leaks come NOT when the pipes freeze but when they thaw -- when the plug of ice melts...
"Larry, can you get any information on the people that designed these buildings, the town officials that approved the designs or the town officials that were responsible for being stewards of the public's finances so that failures like this don't happen."
You are just a complete nutjob. It was -14 degrees.
P.S., we all know it's you Ed.
"Larry, can you get any information on the people that designed these buildings, the town officials that approved the designs or the town officials that were responsible for being stewards of the public's finances so that failures like this don't happen."
I did not write that, and if you look at both the voice (that of a builder, not inspector) and the usage, you will see that.
"You are just a complete nutjob. It was -14 degrees."
For HOW LONG????
Hint: Why don't you get burned when you reach into a 350-400 degree oven?
Hint: Why is the roast only 140-160 degrees even though it has been in the oven?
Thermal transfer takes time -- insulation (including oven mitts) increases that time, which is why we insulate buildings -- which is why we HAVE buildings in the first place -- but any thermal transfer takes time.
Yes, the greater the temperature differential, the more rapid the transfer, but I've seen sprinkler pipes freeze in a lot warmer weather, over longer time...
I stand by what I did write -- (1) AFD's gotta roll on sprinkler-activated alarms, even if it is a broken pipe, and (2) a lot of this is caused by people skimping on the heat. Building code only requires ability to maintain temp when outside is above zero, but if you crank it up 12 hours earlier, you (a) are starting with warmer pipes, and (b) your HVAC isn't initially forced to run at 100% to maintain that, AND (c) if you loose it (e.g. loose power), you are in a better situation than you otherwise would be in.
"P.S., we all know it's you Ed."
P.P.S., get some help -- your fixation on me is psychotic....
Ahoy all you experts/idiots, sprinkler systems are dry systems just for this reason. Duh...
"Ahoy all you experts/idiots, sprinkler systems are dry systems just for this reason."
All I can say is that if water in the pipes is freezing, splitting open said pipes & causing water to gush out of the same, welllll.....
Personally, I never understood why sprinkler pipes weren't filled with something like "food-grade" Propylene Glycol -- a few gallons of it isn't going to make a difference when you have a few thousand (million?) gallons of water behind it....
And cranking up the heat also keeps drinking water pipes from freezing....
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