Flooding causes mass exodus in Gruening Building at 21 below
By Jonathan Wasilewski
Fire alarms in the Ernest Gruening Building, which houses the School of Education and College of Liberal Arts, wailed on December 9 because of a broken sprinkler head. Students and faculty had to exit the building into the minus 21 degrees Fahrenheit weather.
Photo by Lizzy Hahn
A University of Alaska Fairbanks firetruck extended their emergency ladder after a pipe burst in the Gruening Building due to cold temperatures December 9, 2025.
Maintenance worker Austin Beasley stood outside a main entrance where the ground was covered in ice. Water flooded out from the third floor of the building—the ground floor—onto the pavement outside.
“I’ve been told that a sprinkler head that sits in there was frozen and popped,” he said. “It caused the [alarm] system to go off,” Beasley said.
Students and faculty rushed out of the building during finals.
Marimian Grimes, communications director at UAF, told the Sun Star that the low levels of heat were caused by a mechanical failure at UAF’s power plant on Tuesday morning. The power plant has two backup boilers, Grimes explained, and it takes time to bring them up to full power.
“The heat and hot water were coming back online by midday,” Grimes said.
There were pipe breaks at two locations on the ground floor of Gruening around noon.
“We are still investigating the cause,” she said. Grimes stated that the ground floor and the two floors below it were damaged in the flood. The university is still assessing the damage and the focus is on clean-up.
Brann Crowley, a UAF student, was studying for his upcoming Japanese final when the alarm went off, and thought someone was pulling a prank. He went downstairs.
Photo by Lizzy Hahn
University of Alaska Fairbanks firefighters respond to a burst pipe in the Gruening Building on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
“I walk down. Everyone else starts walking, and no one says anything,” he said. Crowley took his Japanese exam in the Rasmuson Library, which was originally scheduled for Gruening.
Others were affected as well. Eighty-three year old Bible counselor Karl Sapp said he “skated” part of the way from the parking lot to one side of the building.
“When I was walking, I wondered what all these emergency vehicles [were doing],” he said.
In an official email sent out four hours before the alarms sounded, UAF warned of “cooler than normal building temperatures” due to low steam pressure from the campus power plant and advised that doors and windows remain closed. Air handling systems and fans were shut off in the buildings to preserve heat.
“Crews are working to restore steam levels, but it could be several hours before buildings return to normal temperatures and hot water is restored,” a UA-system email stated at 7:58 a.m. A second alert was sent out by UAF regarding the sprinkler line break in Gruening at 12:46 p.m.
An email sent to students and staff at 3:39 p.m. explained that final exams were rescheduled to alternate locations, and that the Gruening Building will be closed the remainder of Tuesday and Wednesday. An escort helped retrieve personal items for anyone that left anything inside Gruening at 5 p.m.
More information will be shared as it becomes available on UAF’s official alert website.