RUMFORD – The furnace was spared but the electrical mechanisms that operate the relatively new elevator were destroyed when a leaking pipe dumped 135,000 gallons of water into the Tri-County Mental Health Services building Saturday night.

The agency will reopen this morning.

“If the alarm hadn’t been hooked into us, we wouldn’t have been able to respond so quickly,” Deputy Fire Chief Richard Coulombe said Monday afternoon.

A crew had checked out the basement again Monday morning to make sure no carbon monoxide remained.

The firefighters used a gas-powered pump to remove the water from the 75- by 80-foot basement. The water was directed down a municipal storm water drain.

Because the basement was divided into several rooms, water rose only a few inches in the space that housed the furnace. But in other areas, the water rose up to three feet, Coulombe said. It flooded the elevator’s motor and other electrical components. He estimated damage at $15,000.

Peggy Newton, administrator of the Tri-County office, could not be reached on Monday because of the President’s Day holiday.

However, fire Lt. Keith Bickford said he believed insurance will likely cover all or most of the cost of the damage.

The leak began in the sprinkler system, which Coulombe said was cracked, then broke. It was linked directly to the water main. Water poured out, setting off an alarm that could be heard throughout downtown Rumford.

He said that although much of the basement was used for storage, most records were placed on shelves out of the way of the water. A few boxes of miscellaneous items were drenched, however.

He said pads were used to absorb a small amount of oil that had leaked from the elevator mechanisms.

Firefighters were on scene for nearly six hours Saturday night.

Coulombe said he didn’t know how long it will take to replace the elevator.