MARGATE – Pipes are bursting all over the place as the icy cold winter weather continues throughout the region.
Margate City Fire Chief Dan Adams said the department has responded to more than a dozen calls for burst pipes over the weekend, including one Monday morning that forced evacuation at the Eugene A. Tighe Middle School.
According to Superintendent Ryan Gaskill, a sprinkler head on the school’s fire suppression system burst inside a maintenance closet, which sent water gushing through the hallway near the home economics classroom. Firefighters were on scene using a squeegee to push the water out of an outside doorway.
Students were temporarily moved to the Dominick A. Potena Performing Arts Center before being evacuated to the William H. Ross Elementary School just two blocks away. Tighe students were dismissed from school at 12:45 p.m., Gaskill said.
The district’s fire suppression contractor is on site to repair the broken pipe.
“The company will fix it today and we plan to have school as normal tomorrow,” he said.
Gaskill said although the fire suppression system is not fully operational, the school can have classes in the building as long as there is a Fire Watch crew from the Margate City Fire Department in the building to ensure the safety of students and staff.
“Fortunately, we were able to get the kids and staff out safely, and parents confirmed that it was okay to dismiss the students early,” Gaskill said.
Adams said the city had 18 calls for domestic water line breaks over the weekend, some that caused extensive damage to homes. At one home, the water pipe on the top floor of the building burst and caused extensive water damage to the three floors below.
“It’s only going to get worse,” Adams said. “As it gets warmer, all those frozen pipes will thaw out, and the water will start flowing. We expect to get a lot more calls.”
At Thursday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, Adams pleaded with out-of-town property owners to check on their properties before they suffer the same fate. Many fail to drain their outside shower pipes or keep their vacant homes warm enough to prevent pipes from freezing.
It is recommended that the heat be kept at 55-degrees or above during the wintertime, and drain all pipes that may be located on outside walls.
Margate Community ChurchSunday’s high winds also caused the closing of the Margate Community Church after church officials called the fire department.
The steeple of the stately brick church on Ventnor Avenue was “rocking and creeking in the 30- to 40-miles wind.”
The church closed until an engineer showed up to survey the steeple, which fortunately did not fail.
Copyright Fideri News Network 2026
