Local Spotlight: Water Remediation Project at Kootenai Health, Coeur d’Alene

8/10/2022 (Permalink)

Automatic fire sprinklers are a tremendous asset in preventing a fire from getting out of control and burning down an entire building. At SERVPRO, we strongly believe in taking these types of preventative measures when it comes to fire damage or any other kind of damage. However, when fire sprinkler systems do get activated, they can pose a different problem: water damage.

And that is exactly what happened atKootenai Health in January, when the fire sprinkler system went off in response to a fire alarm. The good news is that there was minimal fire damage, but the sprinklers did release a lot of water in one section of a building, flooding several offices and a large hallway. Clinic personnel responded quickly, and the SERVPRO Coeur d'Alene team was onsite within one hour.

The first step was to inspect the extent of the damage. Staff boxed up all the papers, books, and other items, and any furniture that could be easily dried was wiped down. Then items that had been soaked–furniture, carpet protectors–had to be taken off the floor, so that the soaked flooring could be attended to. In this project, large items of furniture did not need to be taken out of the building, but were simply moved around as the project progressed.

The next step was water extraction to remove excess water from the carpets. Only after most of the water is removed can you bring in commercial dryers and dehumidifiers, to dry not only the carpet, but any other surfaces that might be damp or have absorbed moisture.

Thankfully, because Kootenai Health responded so quickly to get SERVPRO on the scene addressing the damage, there was little need for discarding or demolishing items. And although the baseboards had to be removed from the hallways and offices to complete the drying process, the same baseboard was able to be reinstalled after the area was dried out.

Overall, the job took less than a week and a half from the first call to the completion of the job, and hospital personnel were back in their offices at work, as if the flooding had never happened. Because water had no chance to sit, there was no need for any mold remediation.  

If you ever face a flood or fire disaster, the professionals at SERVPRO are ready to respond 24/7. As always, we work with our customers to accommodate their needs and their situation, so that they can get back up and running as soon as possible. In this case, the crew at Kootenai Health were happy to get back on the job in minimal time. To find out how we can assist you with disaster preparedness as well as disaster response, contact SERVPRO in Coeur d’Alene today.