Ki-Be schools close after waterline break

A water leak and cold temperatures combined to close Ki-Be schools Wednesday.

Water is normally kept out of a majority of the fire suppression system in Ki-Be’s combined elementary and middle school through a series of valves. When sensors detect a fire, the valves open flooding the system with water.

One of the valves leaked, causing water to get into the dry portion of the system. When it met with the below freezing temperatures, a pipe broke on the outside of the building.

“The school itself is OK as the water break in the system flooded the outside of the building,” Superintendent Wade Haun said.

District officials considered it too dangerous for the elementary and middle school students as well as staff to spend their day in a building without a fire suppression system, Haun said.

The school’s maintenance crews were expected to fix the pipe Wednesday so students may be able to attend classes as early as Thursday.

The estimated cost of the fix isn’t determined.

The fire suppression system was installed in 1994 during the most recent remodel project for the building, Assistant Superintendent Joe Lloyd said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Ki-Be schools close after waterline break."