Extreme cold causes pipe bursts in Cape apartment complex

Legends apartment complex in Cape Girardeau dealt with numerous pipe bursts in its sprinkler system Monday, Dec. 26. The Cape Girardeau Fire Department shut down the buildings' sprinkler system until the pipes could be repaired.

Cape Girardeau fire marshal Greg Hecht said the breaks were caused by the extreme cold last week, which froze water in the pipes causing them to burst. When temperatures rose to more moderate winter levels, that water thawed, causing leaks in the system and building.

"Most places are designed to deal with moderately cold temperatures, but the extreme cold temperatures we had over the weekend were something we don't experience frequently," Hecht said.

According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature in Cape Girardeau was 38 degrees from 1991 to 2020. The low Friday, Dec. 23, was minus 6.

Legends was not the only place to have pipe issues because of the temperatures below zero. Hecht said he was aware of other business that had similar problems. There was also a 6-inch water main break in the Arena Park area.

Crews were working to fix the issues Monday, Dec. 26, and Tuesday, Dec. 27, Hecht said. As of Tuesday morning, two of the six affected buildings had repairs completed and their sprinkler systems were back online, he said.

For the other buildings without a functional sprinkler system, fire code requires those buildings have someone to do a fire watch. A person continuously walks throughout the building, acting as a fire monitor, to ensure that the fire department is notified early in the event of a fire, Hecht said. The fire department could then reactivate the sprinkler system to get water where it's most needed.

Installing additional heaters could potentially help prevent this problem, but that's the extent of the preemptive measures, Hecht said. He also reiterated how rare the low temperatures were in this region.

Hecht said it's possible more pipe bursts and leaks are discovered in the coming days as temperatures climb above freezing.