MISSOULA — Frozen pipes are an unfortunate consequence of sub-zero temperatures, a consequence not even the University of Montana is immune to.
Sometime between night time on Saturday, January 13 and the morning of Sunday, January 14, 2024, a water sprinkler pipe in the University of Montana Journalism Building burst, causing flooding to the first level and basement.
The water came from a pipe on the first floor of Don Anderson Hall and then leaked into the basement.
“When I came in yesterday to see the damage for the first time, it actually made me cry,” UM Journalism professor Denise Dowling says.
The basement ceiling tiles were damaged, many of which fell to the floor. When Nadia White, director of the UM Master’s Program in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism, came to the building on Sunday to make a few copies, she says there were at least three inches of standing water on the floor.
UM spokesman Dave Kuntz says support was dispatched to the flooded building as soon as possible, but since the burst pipe was part of a large sprinkler system, the damage occurred too quickly.
“This is something that we’ve gotten used to over the years because of sub-zero temperatures. The University has strong insurance policies in place,” he says.
Currently, crews are working to dry out the journalism building, looking for any signs of asbestos or mold. Kuntz expects people will be able to safely return to Don Anderson Hall in two weeks.
While the building may be dry within 14 days, the possible damage to equipment will take much longer to solve, according to the director of the journalism college, Lee Banville.
“You know, tens of thousands of dollars of gear, I mean there were, you know, $5,000 lenses and there were pretty high-end HD cameras, drones, all this kind of stuff,” he says.
Four classrooms were flooded, possibly damaging upwards of 40 computers. Journalism faculty and emergency crews do not yet know the full extent of the damage, or whether certain equipment can be saved.
Before the staff can test whether the equipment works, there has to be an asbestos rating on everything in the flood zone.
If most of the camera, video and audio gear is unsalvageable, the school would consider turning to other colleges at UM, including media arts, as a place to borrow gear.
“I think that people will really be willing to help us out once they discover what has happened,” Dowling says. “But right now we’re hoping for the best, we’re hoping that at least some of our equipment is usable, and we’ll figure it out as we go along.”
Banville says the journalism community is already surprised and grateful for the continued support from the university, “I will say that the resources that have been deployed to help us are impressive.”
While classes start on Thursday, students and professors are remaining flexible.
“It's the first thing they teach you, is you gotta be willing to work with disaster,” Kaimin newspaper features editor Christine Compton, says. “Disaster is our job.”
The Kaimin is the school's student-run newspaper, which works out of Don Anderson Hall. There was no damage to the Kaimin office, and the student newsroom continued to publish an edition through the flooding.
Compton, a senior journalism student, says she’s concerned about the effect the equipment damages will have on freshmen.
“I was more worried about how it's going to affect students who take beginning photojournalism or people who don't have the equipment and they need to borrow from the downstairs equipment office. If that got hit hard, I don't know how easy it's going to be for them to learn if they don't have the stuff to learn from,” she says.
Even if most equipment is unusable, Banville says student journalism and education will not stop.
“I'm committed to them being able to do what they need,” he says. “So, yeah, they're not getting out of anything. We're gonna make them do reporting and journalism for the next 15 weeks, and I think they're going to do some great stuff, it's just going to be a lot of problem-solving between now and then.”
The flooded classrooms will be absorbed into other rooms at Anderson Hall or moved to other buildings on campus.
Banville says he has been communicating the most up-to-date information possible with students and staff since the flooding.
The same weekend of the Anderson flood, a pipe burst in the University Center's top floor, causing water to leak all the way to the basement. Kuntz says the damage is already contained.
Flooding also occurred in a few apartments at Lewis and Clark Villages. Kuntz says it was likely a result of open windows causing radiators to leak.
Kuntz calls the incident at the journalism college the worst building disruption of the school year, but still not as damaging as the floods to Aber Hall last winter.
“We’ll take what we learned from this process and hopefully apply it to the next one, along with doing the preventative measures that are needed, such as making sure windows are closed and doors are closed, and areas, where there are high risks, are identified, and we can take the proactive measures needed,” he says.
The University of Montana uses a laser system to take the temperature of pipes inside of walls, identifying certain high-risk areas that need extra attention during cold weather.
