A broken pipe flooded a library in North Hills on Monday afternoon, but the facility’s book stacks escaped major damage, a fire department spokesman said.
Firefighters responded just after 5 p.m. to an automatic alarm at the Mid-Valley Regional Public Library at 16244 Nordhoff St., Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
Inside the front area of the closed facility, they found that a 6-inch fire sprinkler riser “had separated at the flange inside a closet,” Humphrey said.
The floor was covered with about three inches of water, but rolling interior doors separated the floodwater from the book stacks, preventing major damage, he said.
Twenty-two firefighters were at the scene “dewatering” and salvaging contents, Humphrey said.
— City News Service