Bursting water pipes keep firefighters busy

Extreme cold followed by a mild warmup over the weekend led to water pipes bursting at homes and businesses across the suburbs.

In Libertyville, firefighters received an alarm about 2:45 p.m. Sunday that was triggered by gushing water at Hurletron Inc., 1820 Tempel Drive on the village's far west side near Route 45.

Libertyville Assistant Fire Chief Michael Cloe said the weather change and possibly a lack of heat inside the building caused pipes in Hurletron's sprinkler room to erupt.

"When we pulled up," Cloe said, "we had water running out of a door."

Firefighters then went to Hurletron's 10-foot-tall by 12-foot-long sprinkler room. The water was about 4 feet high when firefighters opened the door, said Cloe.

"It just came out like a waterfall," he said.

Roughly 3 to 4 inches of water spread throughout the floors of the business, which designs and manufactures equipment for the printing and converting industries. Cloe said firefighters limited Hurletron's financial hit by saving computers and files.

Cloe said a Hurletron representative informed authorities the building was at 62 degrees over the weekend. He said businesses must keep enough heat around sprinkler systems to prevent pipes from bursting in cold weather.

Meanwhile, fire crews in Gurnee, St. Charles, Aurora, Des Plaines, Lake Zurich and Elgin were busy handling water line breaks over the weekend. Des Plaines responded to about a dozen calls.

Gurnee Batallion Chief Barry Henby said village firefighters encountered at least seven bursted pipes. Among the places with a problem Sunday morning was the Office Depot store on Gurnee's west side on Grand Avenue near Hunt Club Road, but Henby said business continued as usual after the hot water was shut off.

Temperatures are expected to reach the upper 20s by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. It should be in the 30s on Thursday.

Firefighters are ready for what likely will be an increase in water line eruptions.

"When it gets to be 30 degrees in the midweek," Henby said, "they're really going to be going."