Water pipe bursts, damages UMaine laboratories, offices

ORONO – A water pipe in the attic of Aubert Hall on the University of Maine campus froze and burst on Thursday morning, sending a flood of water into research laboratories, classrooms and offices.

UM facility maintenance crews joined faculty and staff in covering electronic equipment, mopping floors and drying water-soaked carpeting as they worked to minimize the damage.

The broken pipe feeds a building sprinkler system. The sudden water flow automatically set off a fire alarm that was received by the Orono Fire Department at about 11 a.m. Fire crews responded by helping to cover equipment and assessing damage to the building.

Workers with a sprinkler company happened to be in another area of the building and were able to shut off water to the broken pipe before the Fire Department arrived.

Damage was confined to a four-story wing of the oldest part of the building. Aubert Hall houses UM’s Department of Chemistry and is undergoing a major renovation. Construction crews have not yet worked in the areas that were damaged.

Some facilities, including laboratories and an undergraduate computer laboratory, escaped major damage. No estimate of the extent of damage was available Thursday.

Classes in Aubert were canceled for the rest of the day.