Burst pipe floods courthouse

SUPERIOR – A burst pipe in the Mineral County Courthouse sent water shooting through a wall, soaking the carpet in the hallway leading to the emergency dispatch center and causing damage to offices.

The water was discovered Saturday, Sept. 6 at approximately 2:30 p.m. by dispatchers. The pipe was in a storage room and was connected to the building’s hot water system. The high pressure water punched a hole in the wall of the room and eventually reached a depth of about two inches in the hallway before the leak was stopped.

According to Mineral County Courthouse Maintenance Supervisor Roy Kay, the clean up began immediately but was too much for county resources. A company from Missoula that specializes in cleaning up water damage was called in but not before Kay emptied nearly 300 hundred gallons of water himself.

“It was a big mess,” Kay said. “The first thing I saw was water gushing from the wall so I ran in and shut off the main. After that, it was making phone calls to get someone here to dry things out.”

As staff and personnel began to put their offices back together late in the week, workers were also in the building on Thursday taking measurements for new carpet. Kay said because the leak came from the hot water system, the carpet suffered mineral stains and needed to be replaced.

Kay said electronic equipment in the room, including sensitive internet and communication equipment was not damaged and at no point were emergency dispatchers without vital services. He did say the hole in the wall had been repaired and the broken pipe was replaced.

One staff member who had been forced to relocate her office to the conference room temporarily was County Commissioner Administrative Assistant Cindy Grimm. Grimm said she heard about the damage over the weekend. She said if the dispatchers hadn’t noticed the leak when they did, the damage could have been much more extensive.

“By the time dispatch noticed it, the water was about six feet from going into the basement,” Grimm said. “Roy called me and I called the commissioners. Roy also called DaySpring because they specialize in this kind of thing but they were two hours from getting here so Roy and Mark (Grimm) got out and sucked up the water.”

Grimm said the insurance claim has already been filed but it wasn’t immediately known how much the damage would cost. Water did manage to make its way into the courthouse but the damage there was light. Grimm said the only disruption in county services was the phone system was down for just a few minutes.

“I think we came out fine for the most part,” Grimm said. “The phones were down for a bit but they got them back working very quickly. I did have to move out of my office for a few days but now we are putting everything back.”