If water is actively pouring in right now, you don’t have to read the whole guide first — shut off your water (Step 1), then call (928) 419-8142 for 24/7 emergency water removal. We’ll walk you through the rest on the phone.

Step 1 — Shut off the water at the main

Everything starts here. Until the water is off, every other step is just mopping while the tap runs.

Find your main shut-off valve and turn it fully clockwise (“righty-tighty”). In most Flagstaff homes the main is where the water line enters the house — near the water heater, in a utility closet, in the garage, or in a basement or crawl space. Older homes and cabins sometimes have the shut-off in an exterior box near the street.

On a rural well system — common in Doney Park, Kachina Village, and the outlying county — there’s no municipal main to close. Shut off at the pressure tank or the well pump instead, and kill power to the pump so it stops repressurizing the line. It’s worth finding both of these valves now, before an emergency, and tagging them so anyone in the house can reach them in the dark.

If you can’t find or turn the valve, shut off the water at the street meter (you may need a meter key) or call us and we’ll talk you through it.

Step 2 — Cut the power to wet areas

Water and electricity are a deadly combination. If water has reached outlets, appliances, your electrical panel, or is pooling on a floor with power running through it, switch off the breakers to the affected rooms before you step in.

If the panel itself is wet, or you’d have to stand in water to reach it, don’t — stay out and call an electrician or the fire department. No belonging is worth an electrocution risk.

Step 3 — Drain the lines and relieve pressure

With the water off, open the lowest faucets in the house (basement or ground floor) and flush the toilets to drain the water still sitting in your pipes. This relieves pressure and stops the leak from dribbling more water into the structure.

In winter, also open a couple of upper-floor faucets to let air in so the system drains fully. If the burst was caused by freezing, leaving faucets cracked open slightly reduces the chance of a second freeze-up in the same line.

Step 4 — Get water and valuables moving

Now limit what the water can ruin:

• Move electronics, documents, photos, and valuables up and out of the water’s path first — they’re the least replaceable.
• Lift furniture off wet carpet, or slide foil or wood blocks under the legs to stop finish stains and wicking.
• Mop, towel, or wet-vac standing water if it’s safe to do so — but only a small, clean spill. Don’t use a household vacuum on any real volume of water; it won’t move enough to matter and it’s an electrical hazard.
• Don’t lift wet drywall, pull up soaked flooring, or start demolition yourself. What looks like surface water has usually traveled into wall cavities and subfloor, and improper removal can spread contamination or hide the real damage from your adjuster.

Step 5 — Photograph everything before you clean up

Before you dry or move much, take photos and video of the burst, the standing water, and every wet item and surface. This is your insurance evidence, and it costs you thirty seconds.

Most sudden and accidental water losses — a pipe that bursts, an appliance that fails — are covered by standard homeowners insurance, so for many homeowners the out-of-pocket cost is just the deductible. (Note the distinction: damage from a pipe that’s been slowly leaking for months is often treated as a maintenance issue and denied, which is exactly why fast action and good documentation matter.) A professional crew documents the loss in Xactimate and works directly with your adjuster — more on that on our water damage restoration page.

Step 6 — Call for professional water removal — fast

Here’s the part homeowners underestimate: the water you can see is a fraction of the water that’s there. A burst pipe pushes water into wall cavities, under flooring, and along framing, where a mop can’t reach it. Left there, it soaks structural materials, drops from clean Category 1 water to contaminated Category 2 within hours, and starts the 24–48-hour countdown to mold.

The single biggest factor in how much a burst-pipe loss costs — and how much of your home is saved — is how fast the water comes out. That’s the whole job of an emergency crew: get on site fast and extract hard with truck-mounted equipment, then map the hidden moisture with thermal imaging and dry the structure to a verified standard.

When you call (928) 419-8142, you reach a person 24/7 who dispatches a local, IICRC-certified crew for emergency water removal. (Tenant: most emergency calls on-site within {{RESPONSE_TIME}}.)

Why a burst pipe is different at 7,000 feet ★

In most of the country, a burst pipe is a soaking-and-mold problem. In Flagstaff, you’re running two clocks at once.

At roughly 7,000 feet, with overnight lows well below freezing much of the year, the standing water from a burst pipe can freeze inside your structure overnight — expanding, cracking the very materials you’re trying to save, and turning an evening’s extraction into a far bigger loss by morning. That’s why the local advice isn’t “call in the morning,” it’s “get the water out tonight.”

The cause is often specific to the mountains, too. Empty second homes and cabins along the I-17 corridor — Munds Park, Kachina, Mountainaire — are the classic burst-pipe scenario: a pipe freezes and bursts in a house nobody’s in, and water runs for days before anyone notices. If you own a cabin you don’t live in full-time, the single best protection is having someone who can shut off the water and check on it after a hard freeze. Our frozen & burst pipe page covers why pipes burst at altitude and how to prevent the next one.

Quick reference: the 60-second checklist

1. Water off at the main (or well pump / pressure tank on a well).
2. Power off to any wet area at the breaker.
3. Drain the lines — open low faucets, flush toilets.
4. Move electronics and valuables out of the water.
5. Photograph everything for insurance.
6. Call (928) 419-8142 for fast professional extraction.