Ellis County
Just before 5:00 p.m. Monday, a fire sprinkler head has activated in the server room near the Ellis County Dispatch Center while working on upgrading a HVAC system.
Installation technicians were soldering a wire too close to the sprinkler head causing it to activate, spraying water on network, server, and phone equipment within the room.
The Hays Fire Department was immediately dispatched along with building and grounds, public safety, and information technology personnel to minimize the damage and begin the clean up process.
To maintain the 911 phone lines, public safety paging, and radio communications, dispatch center personnel were transferred to the back-up dispatch center located at the Hays Fire Department.
About $2,000 worth of damage was done to equipment owned by the city of Hays, Collin Bielser, asst. city manager, told Hays Post.
"Our IT department was there late into the night repairing and getting things back online. They worked well with Ellis County and everyone else involved.
"It's good to know we have those backup systems in place," Bielser said this morning. "Our emergency services our top-notch."
Ellis County would like to ensure the public all staff worked their best in this emergent situation and followed the backup dispatch transfer procedures.
No emergency phone calls, or radio traffic were lost, and personnel followed the plan to ensure our high standard of public safety in Ellis County was maintained.
Dispatch personnel will be moving back to the dispatch center at the Ellis County Law Enforcement Center today to resume normal operations.
Ellis County would like to thank the help and quick response from Nex-Tech, Clean-Rite, Pryor Automatic Fire Sprinklers, both city of Hays and Ellis County IT staff, and maintenance personnel who all worked into the night to restore systems.
This story was updated 1t 11:55 a.m. Aug. 3 with comments from Collin Bielser, Hays assistant city manager, about the damage to city equipment.