Leslie Hynes, spokesperson for Snohomish County Fire District No. 1, just provided this update on the Ranch Market roof collapse: “Investigators have determined the collapse of the 20-foot section of covered walkway occurred after a leak developed in the sprinkler system – most likely due to thawing of frozen pipes,” Hynes said. “The weight of the water that built up in the roof overhanging the walkway caused the supports to give way and collapse.”
All business in the Ranch 99 Market strip mall are open Friday except for a nail and hair salon with an entrance located in the area where the collapse occurred, Hynes said. Structural damage to the building is estimated at $20,000.
How can this kind of thing be prevented for the new homes in Edmonds that will have to have sprinkler systems? Do the new sprinkler systems need to be heated with circulating hot water or heated by some other method?
To answer the above question. I belive at city council they passed it for only new homes being built over 5,000 square feet. Allso there are two types of fire suppresion systems (fire sprinklers). There are wet lines and dry lines. So that means eaither the pipes in the home are charged with water all the time, and ready to activate. Or there are uncharged sprinkler pipes, that can be charged when the system is in alarm. The covered Walk way at Ranch 99 was not inclosed inside the buisness. It was an outside covered walk way which had no heat source.So it was suseptible to freeze. Unlike the inside of a heated residence.
There should have been a dry system in the unheated covered walkway.