The Coast Guard shut down its headquarters building Friday after a sprinkler head was severed, dousing the central computer system with water and rendering it inoperable.
A Coast Guard Operations Center watch officer said headquarters employees were sent home Friday morning. He said the system wasn't expected to be fixed until Monday.
Employees were moving equipment when someone accidentally severed the head of a sprinkler. The sprinkler began flooding the building and activated the fire alarm, a Transportation Department spokesman said. Both the central computer system and the building's ventilation system were affected, the spokesman said.
The Coast Guard headquarters is located in southwest Washington, D.C.
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