Fresno County Hall of Records remains closed Wednesday after pipe break, flood

The Fresno County Hall of Records will remain closed two days after a burst pipe flooded the building and forced employees to evacuate.

The pipe burst around noon Monday in an empty room on the northeast corner of the third floor as contract construction workers remodeled the building. Water quickly filtered down to the other floors, puddling 2 inches deep on the ground level.

The Hall of Records, 2281 Tulare St., services the Board of Supervisors, county administration offices, property taxes, and assessor’s and recorder services. On Wednesday, recorder services will again be available across the street inside a training room on the basement level at the Fresno County Plaza Building, 2220 Tulare St.

Robert Bash, county director of internal services, said Tuesday that electrical, heating and air conditioning had been checked out and are running again. He said workers still need to check the elevators and dry a couple parts of the building.

Bash said he hopes most of the building will reopen by Thursday.

Workers pulled up carpeting in some areas to help it dry, Bash said. But he said not many areas of the building were damaged by water.

“It really is isolated to just sort of one narrow strip through the building,” he said. “Unfortunately that's right down the elevator shaft and where the electrical is.”

Bash said it could be months before the county knows how much the total cost of repairs and who is responsible. “This will be expensive,” he said, likely thousands of dollars.

A rumor circulated Tuesday that the flood destroyed county records. Bash said that’s not true. He saw a couple dozen files that got soaked — those sitting on desks when the pipe broke — but water remediation workers told him the files will dry out.

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Fresno County Hall of Records remains closed Wednesday after pipe break, flood."