Minor Flooding Damages 7 Beverly Center Stores

A broken sprinkler main on the seventh floor of the Beverly Center shopping mall at La Cienega and Beverly boulevards caused minor damage in seven stores Thursday, fire officials said.

Fire crews responding to a 1:10 p.m. call found water gushing from a sprinkler main that apparently had been damaged in a construction accident. The water flowed or dripped into three stores on the seventh floor and four shops on the sixth. Battalion Chief Larry Schneider said the damage was minimized because plastic sheeting was placed over merchandise after the problem was discovered.

All the stores remained open.