Crews working to clean up after pipe burst in Lower Merion Township Building

A Planning Commission meeting at the Lower Merion Township Building was cut short Tuesday after a sprinkler pipe located in the hallway outside of the board room burst.

Fire units responded to the scene while commission members and those in attendance evacuated the building.

On Wednesday morning, township Public Information Officer Tom Walsh confirmed the broken pipe was weather-related. In the extreme cold, the pipe had frozen and burst.

Occurring in a stairwell beyond the board room on the second floor, water was pouring from the sprinkler system down the stairs. The break in the sprinkler system caused fire alarms in the building to go off. The Merion Fire Company of Ardmore responded to check the building.

The break occurred about an hour and a half into the planning meeting, not long after Dranoff Properties had completed a presentation on its proposed Cricket lot project. Planners were discussing an application by Bryn Mawr College for demolition and reconstruction of a part of the Haffner Hall dormitory when the decision was made to evacuate the building. Still to be heard on the agenda was an application regarding a preliminary land development plan for an addition to Welsh Valley Middle School. It was not known Wednesday morning whether the meeting could be rescheduled this week.

After the pipe break, Walsh said a number of Public Works employees were called in to clean up. Continued...

As of Wednesday, he said the affected sprinkler head had been replaced and the system reset. A small hole was cut in the second-floor ceiling to allow heat to reach the area of the pipe and prevent re- freezing.

A clean-up crew was scheduled to come in Wednesday to determine what materials, such as carpet, would need to be replaced for mold prevention, but Walsh said damage to the building was believed to be minimal.

The Township Building was open for business Wednesday, and Walsh said a scheduled meeting of the board of commissioners for Wednesday night would be held.

Fire units responded to the scene while commission members and those in attendance evacuated the building.

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Crews working to clean up after pipe burst in Lower Merion Township Building