HAMILTON, Ohio — A sprinkler at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts broke loose late Christmas Eve, flooding part of the building in Hamilton.
The Hamilton Fire Department shut off the water to the fire suppression system when they arrived. They have yet to identify a cause for the incident.
“We got the call about 10 p.m. After the burst, everything worked like it was supposed to. The alarm sounded, the Hamilton Fire Department responded, our amazing team was here within 15 minutes and we’ve already started cleaning up as best we can, given the time.” said Ian MacKenzie-Thurley, executive director of Fitton.
Saturday was the first day of the scheduled week-long holiday break for the Fitton Center. The center's staff worked from home Friday in the wake of the blizzard that tore through the Tri-State.
“We’re just grateful nobody was here when it happened and nobody was hurt,” said MacKenzie-Thurley. “Anything damaged in the flooding can be replaced, but people can’t be."
The complete extent of the damage isn't known, but it appears to be limited to the first-floor entry foyer area and office space, a Fitton Center representative said.
They also noted that any items in the flooded area have taken to dry parts of the building to be catalogued and assessed.
“Thankfully none of the pieces in our FotoFocus exhibition appear to be damaged,” MacKenzie-Thurley said.
Mackenzie-Thurley said it looked like water had damaged a display case from the Bake Sale and the Fitton gift shop with art created by the centers' members, students and teachers. Despite, this he said most of art should be OK once dried off.
“If something like this has to happen, in some ways the timing is good,” MacKenzie-Thurley said. "This would have been a lot worse next week with people in the building for New Year’s Eve."
He said, as of now, the flooding shouldn't affect patrons, guests or students too much, if at all.
The center's team will be putting in some unexpected time over the break to make sure its tip-top for New Year's Eve and regular business hours Jan. 2, Mackenzie-Thurley said.
“We’ll make sure the team gets that time off later. Nobody works harder at keeping their facilities beautiful than our team," MacKenzie-Thurley said. "I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who came in so quickly on Christmas Eve and just got right to work right away, no questions, no complaints. They’re the best. And most definitely on the ‘Nice List.'"
