Businesses Respond To Water Line Breaks After Freezing Temperatures

It was a regular day for the folks at Peacemaker Lobster and Crab on Thursday, but a few days ago, that wasn't the case.

"It happened around like 12:30, kind of like in the middle of service," said restaurant owner Kevin Nashan. 

His restaurant had a water line break in the fire suppression system, flooding the back room of the building. 

"We really had to get everybody out of here as quickly as possible," Nashan said. 

But Nashan said this isn't the only one he's dealt with during the cold snap.

"It's always another added headache, especially on cold days," he said, referencing another main water line break at his St. Louis, MO location. "It's like happening everywhere, and unfortunately, we were the recipient of two of them, and it's just unfortunate."

Tulsa Fire said as temperatures warm up, they saw more calls like this than usual.

"Normally, you have the freeze and then the thaw, and when that thaw comes, it becomes very taxing on the fire department because we're running multiple calls at multiple times," Assistant Fire Marshall Bryan Runyan said. 

He said it's important for his crews to help out.

"Our job is to get there as quick as we can, get that water shut off, and start assisting them with evacuating that water so that their turnaround time is quicker," Runyan said. 

Nashan said that with the burst happening right around lunch, he was thankful it wasn't worse and that he had the restaurant back open by dinner.

"They always say it takes a village, and it truly took a village so we could get open for dinner service, and we did."

Tulsa Fire encourages people to locate their water valve control box before a freeze happens and have a tool ready to go to turn it off if needed.