Sprinkler incident under investigation

by Tamika Harrison
Staff Writer

Malfunctioning sprinklers in the Oaks dormitory this semester at the University of La Verne are under investigation.

The sprinkler systems have gone off without warning, causing flooding and thousands of dollars in damage.

Now, a couple of months later, the housing department is working together with the risk management department to prevent any future malfunctions by researching the cause.

The "F" Building is a new addition to the Oaks at ULV.

All of the other structures A, B, C, D and E, have all been a part of the university's campus for a decade.

The F building is only a year old.

These incidents have been "really unfortunate for both the students and staff We really want to work with the students who have been inconvenienced by the sprinkler problem," said Housing Director Julie Thurman-Francisco.

According to Thurman-Francisco, the sprinkler heads in the "F" building are a newer type of sprinkler system.

Unlike the sprinkler heads in the other buildings these are not recessed, meaning they protrude out from the wall instead of being mounted inside the wall.

Because no one knows yet exactly why the sprinklers went off, Director of Risk Management Clark Witt is also working with outside engineers to try to get to the bottom of the problem.

Two of the heads from the sprinkler pods were sent to engineers to be tested and examined for defaults that contributed to the flood.

Witt is not sure of the total financial losses to students and the University during the past semester.

Currently they are still adding up the expenses.

"In the end we may not know why this problem occurred," Witt said. "Sometimes it just ends up that way."

The most recent incident happened late last month, when the sprinkler went off in room 203 of the Oaks D building causing flooding on both floors.

The April incident was the third such malfunction this semester.