What to Do When Your Fire Sprinklers Go Off Accidentally

11/1/2022 (Permalink)

What to Do When Your Fire Sprinklers Go Off Accidentally

While fire sprinklers are there to protect your building, they can cause major issues such as flooding when they go off accidentally. It is best to have a plan in place in case this problem does occur. If this does happen, follow these guidelines to ensure that the damage is properly dealt with.

Shut off the Water Supply Line

The first thing you should do if you find yourself in this situation is to turn off the water supply line. This will stop the sprinklers from continuing to go off. This step is extremely important because the sooner you shut off the source, the less water damage there will be.

Clean up the Damage

In addition to cleaning up the standing water, you will need to deal with furniture and office equipment, and documents that got wet. You may want to consider calling a professional water restoration company to help you. The flooding needs to be taken care of as quickly as possible in order to avoid mold growth.

Call the Insurance Company

Your insurance company should be able to go over your policy with you to determine what is covered. You need to take pictures of everything that was damaged before you are cleaning up. They are far less likely to pay if you do not have evidence.

Determine the Cause

The insurance company will probably want to know what caused the fire sprinklers to go off in the first place. You may also want this information so that you can avoid having the same thing happen again later on. If you bring them to the manufacturer, they should be able to tell you what the issue was.
Acting fast is of the utmost importance when flooding occurs. Open all windows to begin ventilating the building until a water mitigation expert arrives. You can carefully begin to clean up wet areas, but they should be able to help you with the larger problems, such as wet carpets.