Sprinkler system leaves Chester Heights home all wet

By JEFF WOLFE jwolfe@delcotimes.com @delcoreporter

CHESTER HEIGHTS MaryAnne Mitchell knew something wasnt right.

She decided to lie down at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday and was just starting to relax when she thought she heard water running. She asked her husband Jack if it was raining outside, but he replied from another room that it was sunny.

But a few moments later it was raining ... inside.

Mitchell told her husband to get out of their condominium at The Hollow at Fox Valley because she feared the noise she heard in the wall was fire. But there no fire, just water. Lots of it.

Then the sprinkler system went off, MaryAnne Mitchell said. It came through everything.

The Mitchells live on the first floor and the two condominiums above them are unoccupied. It is believed that due to the cold temperatures and lack of heat, that a pipe burst causing the water to run down. However, the sprinkler system only went off in the Mitchells dwelling.

It was like it was raining in here, MaryAnne Mitchell said.

MaryAnne Mitchell said the residents had received a notice during last weeks extreme cold stretch to keep their heat high enough so the pipes in the utility closet would not freeze. Since no one is living in the residences above them, its likely no one received notices for those two condominiums.

Since the sprinkler system was tripped, the fire company was required to investigate. Along with the sprinklers getting everything wet, the firefighters had to put a hole in the ceiling to allow more standing water to be released.

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Sprinkler system leaves Chester Heights home all wet