Leaking pipe caused fire alarm in Joyner Residence Hall

Residents in Joyner Residence Hall woke up early Thursday morning because of a fire alarm caused by a leaking pipe in the basement.

Rick Bradley, associate director of the Department of Housing and Residential Education, said the appropriate people responded, including the Department of Public Safety.

Around 8 a.m. the water was shut off and by 8:50 a.m. the pipe had been repaired and the water was turned back on.

“Pipes leak frequently,” Bradley said. “It is an older building with older pipes. With the amount of square footage that we have on campus, it occasionally happens.”

Junior Zichao Li said the alarm went off around 8 a.m. and the water stopped running shortly after. He said it didn’t affect his schedule.

“It’s okay because I go shower after nine normally,” he said.

First-year Aliese Cobb said the leak in the pipe made her morning difficult.

“Of course, me and my roommates both had exams at like 9:30 — yeah, a test — so we were a little stressed at the time, trying to figure out where to go for water,” she said.

Cobb said her community director sent out an email saying the water would come back on eventually.

Sophomore Esther Lee said there was a problem with the water in Alexander Residence Hall as well.

“Okay, it was like 8:15 when the water was like brown or whatever, but I had to wake up for a 9 o’clock class and I had to let it run for some time,” she said.

She said she turned the water on before hearing about the problem. When she noticed it was brown, she left the water running and waited for it to turn clear.

“Yeah, I didn’t know until later though, until after,” she said. “I didn’t know that the water was bad or that something was wrong with the pipe until later.”

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