By Paul Davis
CRANSTON, R.I. -- A broken sprinkler flooded a quarter of Harrington Hall late Thursday afternoon, forcing dozens of homeless men to move their beds and stand outside until state and other workers cleaned up the mess.
The men slept in a dry section of the homeless shelter and a state Fire Marshal's official spent the night because the building was not fire safe, said Jean Johnson, executive director of House of Hope Community Development Corporation, the agency that runs the Cranston shelter.
"It looked like Niagara Falls," Johnson said Friday. "It was pouring out."
Some men were taken to other shelters. The remaining homeless men helped move the beds to the dry part of the building, Johnson said. "They were wonderful."