The main building at Yukon College’s Ayamdigut campus was shut down and evacuated on Wednesday following a water main break.
The building was left without working fire sprinklers and had to be shut down as a result, said spokesman Michael Vernon.
All classes, including evening classes, were cancelled for the day but resumed on Thursday morning.
Notices were sent to students and staff via the college’s website and its internal alert system.
The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. when a contractor working on site accidentally dislodged a rock while digging an exploratory trench.
Contractors are working on the college’s new Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining building.
The purpose of the digging was to determine the pipe size for the relocation of a fire hydrant behind the main building.
The activity caused a rock to hit the pipe, which then burst.
Project lead Don Gillies said the issue is partially due to the antiquated plumbing around the campus.
“Nowadays this wouldn’t have happened because they would have had valves on both sides of the fire hydrant so you could actually isolate it,” he said.
“Because it’s an old system, valves are located in such a way that we had to turn off the college in order to shut this leak off.”
The building closure also affected the Nakwaye Ku Daycare and the Yukon Native Language Centre, both housed in the main building.
Buildings such as the nearby seniors’ residence and the Yukon Arts Centre were not affected as they are on a different water line.
Contact Myles Dolphin at
myles@yukon-news.com