READING, Pa. – The temperature rose above freezing today in Reading, but firefighters are still facing challenges.
It’s not the first thing you might think of when it’s cold.
“Our department has responded to multiple fire alarm activations that were the result of sprinkler systems that had broken,” said Jeremy Searfoss, fire marshal for the City of Reading.
You may not see it coming, and then the next minute, water is pouring in.
“We believe that they were probably frozen, and at this point, with the weather being a little warmer, they had thawed out enough to break,” Searfoss said.
It comes following a week of below-freezing temperatures.
“It’s definitely been worse this year than it’s been in past years,” Searfoss said.
69News followed Reading’s fire marshal to the Silk Mill Apartments on North 11th Street.
“At this particular instance, we’re at an apartment building, and now we had part of that freeze, so we had to shut the entire sprinkler off. I think there’s 40-some units in that apartment building,” Searfoss said.
He said that how crews respond in these instances changes, case by case.
“Sometimes we can control it with sectional valves, and that just means that a smaller part of that system would be inoperable versus an entire building,” Searfoss said. “A lot of times…we may be shutting off the main that affects a larger building.”
To prevent it, keep an eye on your heat and your home’s ventilation.
“If you have a sprinkler system that is wet, you only need to maintain 40 degrees. So, it doesn’t need to be, you know, 70 degrees or something like that. But 40 degrees is what the standard requires,” Searfoss said.
Searfoss said this winter overall has been very busy for the department.
“Our members continue to protect this city day in and day out,” he said. “Our call volume has definitely increased, and we’re dealing with a lot more complicated things.”
A pipe burst was also reported Monday at Opportunity House.