Sprinkler causes Illinois State dorm to evacuate

NORMAL Residents of Illinois State Universitys Watterson Towers were evacuated Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning after a sprinkler system activated.

We believe someone may have hung something from a sprinkler on the 11th floor and when the sprinkler broke, the system did what it was designed to do and it emptied water throughout the 11th floor, said Eric Jome, assistant director with ISU media relations.

There were no injuries, but officials are still assessing the damage, Jome said. Crews have been working on cleaning up the damage related to the incident.

Theres a lot of wetness, Jome said. A lot of things got wet and our first priority is to get everything dry. But of course, water travels down.

With water in the alarm system, a smoke alarm activated at about 9:20 a.m. Wednesday and students were evacuated from the building for a short time, Jome said.

In addition to some damage inside the building, several students also reported water damage.

The university doesnt claim responsibility to personal property for water damage, Jome said. But we are trying to help the students in any way we can.

Contact Barlow at 309-820-3238.

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Sprinkler causes Illinois State dorm to evacuate