Firefighters were called to deal with a burst pipe at a Calgary supermarket on Thursday, the kind of call they’ll probably be handling frequently when the city’s cold snap comes to an end.
A pipe that’s part of the sprinkler system, housed in an outside wall, broke at around 10 a.m. at the Calgary Co-op in the Forest Lawn neighbourhood.
“It’s quite a mess. Nothing got damaged food-wise or anything like that, it’s just all over the floor.”
Firefighters used large squeegees to push some of the ankle-deep water out of the store, with private cleanup specialists arriving to continue the job.
Fire crews have been busy dealing with pipe breaks all over Calgary during the city’s recent period of extremely low temperatures.
“What we’ve seen in the last several days is buildings with sprinkler lines that are frozen and then ruptured, causing water to leak all over the place and so we’ve had several calls today, and last night as well, with these types of issues,” the Calgary Fire Department’s Carol Henke said.
With temperatures set to rise over the coming days, the warmer conditions are expected to bring another set of problems.
The cold weather also brings similar problems in private homes and there are steps people can take to prevent pipe breakages.