Fwd: FW: Frozen/Burst Water Pipe Response guidelines

[Bob Hayes]

Delta:

This is for your information. Some of you may receive this twice, my apologizes. 

Bob

Hey Everybody,

 

This may help while out on calls over the next couple of nights.

 

FYI, folks/activators who are entering these cases into CAS use OTH not flood.

 

Marge

 

From: Schou, Rick

 

Hey Folks:

 

In lieu of guidance on these type incidents, here is what our response will be for calls for burst pipes:

 

Single Family dwellings – If the power is pulled, and they have absolutely no place to stay, and it is still freezing outside, we will provide one night’s lodging and food.  Also, if someone has their power pulled due to burst water pipes, and they have medical concerns, make sure the Health Services volunteer on-call is brought into the loop.

For most people, if a water pipe ruptures, that is a call to the plumber, not the Red Cross.  However, as we are dealing with temperature extremes, and some of these incidents require that the power be cut off, we will address these on a case by case basis.

 

Multi Family Dwellings – In the past 2 days, Charlotte Fire Dept has responded to more than 170 water pipe calls.  Many of these have affected apartment/condo buildings, including frozen sprinkler system pipes.  In addition, the fear is that many of these frozen pipes will leak or burst as the temperatures begin to rise this afternoon.

For incidents where multiple families are displaced with no place to stay, we can open a shelter as we would normally for large numbers of affected residents. We also need to be in immediate contact with the property management personnel to see what their timeline is for addressing the problems.

 

For any calls requesting assistance, we all need to put on our casework hats and ask some basic questions:

                -do you have insurance?  If so, have you called the agency?

                -do you have family or friends with whom you can stay?

                -do you have any medical concerns/issues?

 

Hopefully, we won’t have that many calls over the next couple days, but I know this is a “fuzzy” area that often has us wondering what, if any assistance we will provide.

 

Rick Schou | Regional Disaster and Programs Officer

American Red Cross

 

2425 Park Road

Charlotte, NC 28203

T: 704.378.4624 | F: 704.378.4633

M: 980.721.8710 | rick,sc...@redcross.org

www.carolinapiedmontregion.org