APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Officials in Appleton say the severe winter weather has caused a number of problems and an area homeless shelter is the latest victim.
Pillar Adult Shelter is the exact type of place that is so vital to the community in cases of severe weather, but there was nothing they could do to avoid back-to-back days of bad luck.
A frozen pipe burst on Wednesday and that was followed by a second pipe erupting in the women’s bathroom Thursday.
“When all of our clients were here about 5:30, a water pipe burst in our sprinkler system in one of the back offices,” says shelter director Scott Peeples.
Water could be seen dripping down the walls to the baseboards and into the basement, according to Peeples.
Because of that, around eighty people were transported by ValleyTransit to another location.
“We took precautions to get people out of here. We realized there could be problems with the furnace going out or with the electricity,” he explains.
The Appleton Fire Department arrived on scene to assess the damage.
“Today there have been contractors at the location taking care of the sprinkler system, and taking care of the furnace system,” says Battalion Chief Joe Strauss.
They determined that the damage was minimal and everyone got the OK to return to the building.
For Appleton Fire, this is just the latest in what has been a non-stop week of winter-related calls.
“We’ve had a number of calls that have been weather related,” says Strauss. “We’ve had some vehicle accidents, pipes that are broken, carbon monoxide calls, and all the things we have in winter are being magnified because of the cold weather.”
A minor water leak also happened at Pillars resource center, just a couple miles away from the shelter, and staff are expecting to have that building open again by Friday.
