Former Building at Mall Suffers Water Damage After Sprinkler Line Broke

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Published on January 20 2020 3:57 pm
Last Updated on January 21 2020 12:09 am
Written by Greg Sapp

The former Rural King building at Village Square Mall suffered water damage when a sprinkler line froze and broke at a fitting.

drained mall water 640

The incident happened Monday morning. Effingham Assistant Fire Chief Matt Kulesza said firefighters received an alarm to the building. Such alarms occur when the water pressure drops, such as when a water line breaks.

Kulesza said fire crews drained the line so the rest of the sprinkler system in the mall could be put back into service without another alarm occurring. However, firefighters had to dump the 2,000 gallons of drained water onto the parking lot behind the building. Plans were to have a crew put salt on the drained water to prevent freezing and dangerous conditions to those walking or driving in that area.