*This story was last updated at 12:07 p.m. on Friday, April 12. The Hornet will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.*
At approximately 9 a.m. Thursday morning, a water leak was discovered in Fullerton College’s 700 Building. By 1:30 p.m., on-site electricians determined that it was safest to cancel classes and have all staff clear out of the 700 Building and 900 Building as a precaution. Cynthia Sands, Division Office Manager for the Dean of Technology and Engineering Ken Starkman, informed staff that the power to the 700 Building has been shut off and classes for Friday, April 12 are cancelled.
The college announced via email at around 11:50 a.m. that there is an expected 15-minute water shutdown across the entire campus around 11:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. The water shutdown will be due to crews working to determine the scope and timeline of repairs related to water leak in building 700. By 12:06 p.m., the shutdown had subsided and water was turned back on.
The 900 Building however has power and will be fully functional on Friday. All classes will be in session as normally scheduled.
The closure of the 700 Building is not expected to affect volunteers for Kindercaminata, as the event is planned to be outside, and access will be granted to volunteers that need to get into the 700 Building to collect anything needed to participate.
Starkman explained in his email with The Hornet why the 900 Building also needed to be closed down, even though the leak occurred in the 700 Building.
“The 700 and 900 Buildings are sort of like brother and sister. The 700 Building contains the power transformer for the 900 Building,” said Starkman. “That is why the 900 building is impacted with the leak at the 700 Building. We hope to have an update tonight for tomorrow morning.”
Starkman reminded The Hornet that Fullerton College is 100 years old, and it is to be expected that as the infrastructure ages, things will break due to longevity.
Starkman said this is still an ongoing investigation. The current belief is that a “domestic water supply pipeline that comes into the building is broken. The water is underneath the building, and leaking into the electrical panels on the west side of the building,” said Starkman.
The water was shut down so technicians can safely work on developing the scope of this issue, according to Starkman and the Fullerton College News Center. They probed the area with headphones that can detect the location of where any water leaks are coming from. Crews also used the time with the building empty to determine the timeline for repairs.
This is the second leak to occur this year in this part of campus. The first occurred during winter break due to a plugged roof drain from the heavy rains. The roof drain then backed up and flooded the 700 Building.
According to a follow-up email with The Hornet, Starkman believes this leak appears to be more serious.
“The water leak has not been detected; however the water is taking the path of least resistance following electrical lines which lead directly to the west power transformer in the basement of the 700 Building,” said Starkman.
Fullerton College sent out emails and text messages to the Hornet community shortly after 3 p.m.
