Manitoba’s largest emergency room flooded Thursday morning after a patient allegedly set off the sprinkler system. A witness said a patient “punctured one of the sprinklers this morning,” creating a “massive mess.”

The ER closed for about an hour.

“Earlier this morning, HSC’s adult emergency department was temporarily closed to new patients –  with the exception of stroke and trauma cases – as a result of an incident involving our fire sprinkler system,” said Amy McGuinness.

“Patients were temporarily diverted to other facilities while the issue was rectified and the area was cleaned.  The temporary diversion lasted approximately 1 hour and HSC’s adult emergency department has since resumed full operations.”