Friday, 5:53 p.m.
This post was written by Senior Staff Writer Matt Rist.
Residents of Francis Scott Key Hall evacuated the building early Thursday morning, and substantial water damage affected four rooms, an official said.
Two residents who live on the third floor – Jenna Schwartz and Erica Barbanel – said water came into their room under their door as they were evacuated from the building.
“There’s a half-inch deep of soggy muck, the carpet is soaked. The kitchen floor is a mess – the bathroom floor is a mess. My guess would be a sprinkler went off. They didn’t give us much detail, they didn’t know,” Barbanel said early Thursday morning after assessing the damage in her room. GW Housing Programs plans to find her alternate accommodations for the evening, she said.
University Police Chief Dolores Stafford said officers responded to the building last night for a sprinkler valve activation.
John Ralls, the senior adviser for communications and outreach in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Treasurer, said a single fire sprinkler head discharged inside a third- floor room at about 1:30 am Thursday morning.
“My understanding is that there was no fire and this was not a result of a systems failure – further review is underway as to the cause,” Ralls said in an e-mail. “A UPD officer was able to shut off the valve within 5 minutes. Another room besides the affected room on the third floor and two rooms below received water from the sprinkler, but water damage was minimal due to the quick UPD response.”
Ralls said the sprinkler “operated as designed” and that “facilities responded quickly to replace the sprinkler head and clean up the water.”
Sophomore Brad Canales, a second-floor resident, reported water coming into his room through the ceiling.
“There was a crack in the ceiling and water was coming in the room,” he said.
Students began returning to the residence hall around 2:30 a.m. UPD officers at the building declined to comment.
Ralls said residents in three of the four rooms relocated for the rest of the night.
Gabrielle Bluestone contributed to this report.
