Faulty sprinkler floods Memorial Coliseum

CORPUS CHRISTI - A sprinkler that turned on following a fire at Memorial Coliseum early Tuesday gushed thousands of gallons of water into the vacant structure, fire officials said.

Someone broke into the building and burned trash in the rear of the building, likely either for light or heat, said Fire Marshal Andy Cardiel. The fire sparked in a section of offices near the stage, and the area may have been used as a homeless camp.

Heat from the fire triggered a single overhead sprinkler, Cardiel said, which quickly put out the fire. But firefighters were not called to the scene until 1 p.m. when a passerby noticed a smoke smell coming from the building. It wasn't clear exactly when the fire started, but it's believed to be before 6 a.m.

Authorities usually are alerted when a sprinkler is activated through an audible alarm often tied to an automatic system that calls dispatchers.

"In this case, that did not happen," Cardiel said. "Either it was not working or nobody noticed."

When firefighters arrived, they were not able to shut off the sprinkler because the valve at the fire sprinkler station was old and would not turn, Cardiel said. Officials had to shut off water to the entire facility, replace the sprinkler head, then turn back on the water.

It isn't known for sure how much water was released into the building, Cardiel said, but the amount may be more than 10,000 gallons. Each sprinkler head is capable of putting out 20 gallons of water a minute or 1,200 gallons an hour, and parts of the building had several inches of standing water when firefighters arrived.

Kevin Stowers, the city's interim engineering director, said the building is being secured up again. The vacant building, mostly steel and concrete, isn't structurally damaged from the water.

"It's not subject to damage per se, other than a little clean up is involved," he said.

The city still is deciding what to do with the coliseum, vacant since 2004.

In mid-January, the city awarded a $100,000 contract to Alpha Building Corp. for roof patching, plywood window covers and removal of the ticket booth and concrete awning.

Beth Wilson contributed to this report.


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