A fire alarm forced all Goodyear Hall residents out into the cold late Thursday morning when a hot water pipe broke and flooded a third floor dorm room and damaged several others.
About two minutes before the fire alarm went off at around 9:40 a.m., Brandon Steck and Brian Farkas, occupants of room 314 on the south side of the third floor, woke up to hot water and steam everywhere.
"I was sleeping when we heard a bang and a gush of water. I turned around and told Brian to look," Steck said.
According to Peter Smith, area director of South Campus residence halls, a steam pipe broke, causing the water to flow into several rooms on the floor.
"It was a steam pipe that helps heat residence halls that broke," he said. "The pipe carries pressurized steam and hot water. No one was injured when it burst."
Half an hour into the fire drill, Goodyear residents who went into neighboring Clement Hall for warmth were told they were allowed to go back into their dorms, but third and second floor residents were not allowed for reentry.
Smith described the damage caused by the broken pipe and the flow of water into surrounding dorm rooms as extensive.
"Room 314 has the most amount of damage. The residents will be offered a new room in the meantime," he said. "The pipe water went into different surrounding rooms - it also leaked into a couple of rooms of the second and first floor."
Ashley Swank, a junior geology major, was across the hall when the pipe broke open.
"It was steam - it didn't smell like smoke. I went into the room across the hall and helped open a window to let the steam out," Swank said.
Steck and Farkas did not know what to do in the two minutes it took for the fire alarm to go off.
"All I could see was the water in my room," Farkas said.
Seeing the water build up and spill across the hall, Swank took action with Luke Eisenstein, who resides in the room across the hall. The pair shoved towels in door cracks to prevent further damage.
"We heard that there was three inches of water in our room. Luke's laptop was sitting on a pillow on the floor. The pillow soaked up all the water and saved his laptop," Swank said.
To residents down the hall, the scene was startling, especially during the disorder caused by the fire alarm. Freshman psychology major Pamela De Los Rios Arellano Mantilla Becerra, residing on the other half of the south side of the floor, noticed water vapors as soon as she walked out of her room.
"I heard the alarm and came out to a lot of steam," Becerra said. "It looked like smoke."
Water vacuums were immediately used to extract the water from the flooded area. The floor's electricity was shut off and wet electronics and power cords were picked up off the floor.
Residents of the third and second floors were kept out of their dorms. Some missed exams and other opportunities because they had no access to their belongings.
"I was supposed to sign up for a trip to Israel on 'Birthright,'" said freshman undecided major Jared Sais. "I was going to do it right after class but came home to people telling me I couldn't get into my room. It was flooded."
Other residents experienced similar issues when barred from their dorm rooms. Residents were treated to pizza and television in the Goodyear X lounge while they waited for news.
"I feel so displaced," said Bryan Rothstein, a freshman biomedical sciences major who lived on the third floor of Goodyear Hall.
Residents expressed worries about possessions that might have been damaged due to the massive amounts of water. Jordan Gomes, suitemate of room 314, expressed concern about his books.
"My books will be ruined," Gomes said. "I have books from last semester and this semester on my floor which I heard is covered in water."
Smith explained that residents would soon be allowed to check on the damage themselves.
"The main water is on the third floor, and has been mostly cleaned up. I would say 98 percent of it has been cleaned," he said. "Students will be released to check their rooms soon. We will be offering the residents of 314 a new room in the building."
