Well I came back from my Year 12 Retreat yesterday. Beforehand our teachers told us that according to what they have heard, students named the Year 12 Retreat their most memorable school event and in my case (and I guess the other people on our Retreat) this is certainly true.
It was around 7:30, just a couple of minutes before we were due back. We had a break from Activities (the teacher was preparing the VCR for our next session, which didn’t work). I was in our dorm sitting about two beds away from mine talking to two of my friends (my bed was right in the corner of the room). One of the guys was kicking the ball to the other as hard as he could so he could head butt it (even though our teachers told us not to play ball games in the dorms)! Anyway, my friend says, how funny would it be if he kicks the ball into that pipe and it explodes with water, literally 5 seconds later, he kicks the ball as hard as he can, hits this PVC pipe and snaps it in half, water is POURING out, going all over the floor (and onto my bed to which was the one closest to it).
What happened was that they had hit the main pipe (around 5-7cm in diameter) of the emergency fire sprinkling system for the entire upstairs level (this was exposed in the corner where my bed was from floor to ceiling).
So water is just gashing out of there right onto my bed and sleeping bag. It took me about two seconds to grasp the situation. I run over to my bed, rip my sleeping bed of it and grab my bag (which through some miracle is virtually dry). Now the Fire alarm goes off (because of the drop in water pressure I guess) and everyone is heading for the exit carrying what they can.
In the mean time water continues to rush out of the pipe running across the floor, it was only second before the whole dorm was half covered, this dorm is quite large holding about 30 or more single beds and side cabinets.
The teachers who were downstairs preparing, come running up thinking there is a fire; because of the fire alarm. They tell us to evacuate to the main room and leave our stuff here, of course we didn’t want to so we explained quickly what was happening and they let us downstairs with our bags.
After a couple minutes they finally get the sprinkler system switched off but at this time, the water has reached almost 3cm high and has started to seep through the floor, dripping into the activity hall below our dorm as if it was raining inside.
So after everyone is evacuated from the upper level (which happens to be 5 stories high) people got sent off to get all the stuff left upstairs and sweep the hall which continues to get drenched in water.
We ended up getting moved into another dorm. The teachers actually took this quite "cool" as they agreed it was an accident and didn’t want to leave the guys responsible, feeling miserable whilst on retreat. I reckon the school insurance will pay for the damage caused.
I still can't believe this happened. It was like a scene out of a movie; quite memorable indeed. Oh and no one got hurt.
It was around 7:30, just a couple of minutes before we were due back. We had a break from Activities (the teacher was preparing the VCR for our next session, which didn’t work). I was in our dorm sitting about two beds away from mine talking to two of my friends (my bed was right in the corner of the room). One of the guys was kicking the ball to the other as hard as he could so he could head butt it (even though our teachers told us not to play ball games in the dorms)! Anyway, my friend says, how funny would it be if he kicks the ball into that pipe and it explodes with water, literally 5 seconds later, he kicks the ball as hard as he can, hits this PVC pipe and snaps it in half, water is POURING out, going all over the floor (and onto my bed to which was the one closest to it).
What happened was that they had hit the main pipe (around 5-7cm in diameter) of the emergency fire sprinkling system for the entire upstairs level (this was exposed in the corner where my bed was from floor to ceiling).
So water is just gashing out of there right onto my bed and sleeping bag. It took me about two seconds to grasp the situation. I run over to my bed, rip my sleeping bed of it and grab my bag (which through some miracle is virtually dry). Now the Fire alarm goes off (because of the drop in water pressure I guess) and everyone is heading for the exit carrying what they can.
In the mean time water continues to rush out of the pipe running across the floor, it was only second before the whole dorm was half covered, this dorm is quite large holding about 30 or more single beds and side cabinets.
The teachers who were downstairs preparing, come running up thinking there is a fire; because of the fire alarm. They tell us to evacuate to the main room and leave our stuff here, of course we didn’t want to so we explained quickly what was happening and they let us downstairs with our bags.
After a couple minutes they finally get the sprinkler system switched off but at this time, the water has reached almost 3cm high and has started to seep through the floor, dripping into the activity hall below our dorm as if it was raining inside.
So after everyone is evacuated from the upper level (which happens to be 5 stories high) people got sent off to get all the stuff left upstairs and sweep the hall which continues to get drenched in water.
We ended up getting moved into another dorm. The teachers actually took this quite "cool" as they agreed it was an accident and didn’t want to leave the guys responsible, feeling miserable whilst on retreat. I reckon the school insurance will pay for the damage caused.
I still can't believe this happened. It was like a scene out of a movie; quite memorable indeed. Oh and no one got hurt.
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oh well...it wasnt THAT bad either tho....meh
