Navigating Crisis: How Brigham and Women’s Hospital Managed a Vivarium Flood

On Feb. 4, 2023, the temperature in Boston plunged to -9 F. Unbeknownst to the team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a rooftop access door at the Building for Transformative Medicine (BTM), which housed the facility’s vivarium, had been left unlocked. It was a costly oversight. Powerful winds forced the door open, exposing vital infrastructure to extreme cold. Sprinkler pipes froze, cracked, and ultimately burst when temperatures rose, unleashing a flood that cascaded through critical areas. Rusty, contaminated water spread into the cagewash, core imaging space, and veterinary technician offices. While rooms housing 9,200 cages of research animals were initially untouched, the event posed a significant threat to ongoing research and daily operations.

When disaster strikes, adaptability and swift decision-making are critical. For Renee Thompson and Mary Spencer, two operations leaders at Brigham and Women’s, these qualities were put to the test when the unexpected flood disrupted operations. The facility’s alarms alerted engineering staff responsible for building maintenance, whose priority was securing patient areas. The alarm notification did not, however, initially go directly to Thompson, the associate director of operations for Brigham and Women’s Center for Comparative Medicine. These gaps in emergency response communication have now been corrected, but Thompson and Spencer’s experience offers lessons in crisis management, operational excellence, and long-term strategic planning in laboratory animal care.

Containing Immediate Damage

“Our first concern was ensuring that no water entered the animal rooms from the ceilings above,” says Spencer. “Thankfully, while the water spread down hallways and common areas, our animal rooms remained mostly protected.” After ensuring the safety of the staff on site during the event, the primary concern was the well-being of the BTM vivarium’s 34,000 rodents. The vivarium’s 125 rats and approximately half of the mouse population were not contaminated.

With water pouring through corridors, however, staff needed to spring into action. “We tried to contain it with buckets, but that was like trying to bail out a sinking ship with a thimble,” says Spencer. “The water had nowhere to go but the hallways.”

The vivarium’s flood was only part of a larger hospital-wide crisis, as the emergency room had also suffered flooding. “We weren’t the top priority—patients always are—so we had to take matters into our own hands,” says Thompson, the hospital’s associate director of operations.

Repairs to the vivarium began within five days, with the cagewash area a primary concern. “Without it, we couldn’t properly care for the animals. We had to rethink everything,” says Thompson.

Disposable/Single-Use Caging to the Rescue

With their standard cagewash out of commission, the team pivoted quickly. “We switched to single-use, disposable caging,” says Thompson. “Within days, we had redirected shipments, and by Feb. 16, skids of these cages, along with necessary water bottles, started arriving. We received shipments once a week, then twice a week after that. We stored about 4,000 disposable cage setups and water bottles onsite. Those would last us about a week.”

Longstanding capacity challenges in the building’s program, and minimal swing/flexible-use space, led to a difficult decision. “We did have to move one entire room of animals, and without the space to house them all, we had to cull approximately 100 cages (350 mice) in total.” The choice wasn’t easy, says Thompson, “But this quick decision prevented a devastating loss of research and, as we proceeded with recovery, prevented culls down the line.”

Redeploying Staff and Maintaining Morale

Beyond logistical challenges, the emotional and physical toll on the team was significant, says Thompson. “During this time, we had to redeploy cagewash staff and figure out different roles.”  With the cagewash area off limits, the staff stepped up to take on other duties. “Our cagewash staff were the dream team during this time,” says Thompson. “They decontaminated the entire facility within 10 days. They scrubbed every surface and cleaned every floor.” 

Many of these staff also operated as runners, moving the new disposable cages to the facility’s animal care technicians, veterinarians, and veterinary technicians. In the immediate aftermath, the facility had to halt research for all investigators housing rodents in this facility. In addition to their usual tasks, the veterinary team began managing breeding colonies for the labs in an effort to conserve caging materials and keep lab staff out of the vivarium in the immediate aftermath. In addition, they coordinated with the veterinary team to retrieve specific animals needed for terminal procedures to complete studies.

“Initially, staff were eager to step up, working 80-hour weeks. But burnout set in fast,” notes Spencer. “Call-outs increased. Morale dropped. We didn’t anticipate how exhausting the long-term response would be.”

Then there were the researchers, whose insistence on getting back to “business as usual” was a challenge. “We allowed them to come back once the facility had been decontaminated, which in retrospect was not the best idea,” says Thompson. “We had dirty cages stacked in the hallways because there was nowhere to put them. We had skids of disposable caging materials everywhere. And now we had our researchers back at almost full swing. It truly slowed the recovery process down.”

While noting this circumstance as unique, and acknowledging lessons learned, Thompson emphasizes the importance of supporting redeployed employees. “Resilience isn’t just about pushing through—it’s about knowing when to pause and care for your people.”

Lessons in Crisis Management for Animal Research Facilities

Thompson and Spencer stress the importance of both an immediate emergency response plan and longer-term space management considerations in animal research facilities. Despite chaotic circumstances at Brigham and Women’s BTM facility, the immediate response followed a structured approach:

1. Immediate Damage Control – Prevent contamination and ensure personnel safety.
2. Temporary Facility Adjustments – Shift to single-use, disposable caging if cagewash is compromised.
3. Staff Deployment and Support – Empower and support all staff in assisting with decontamination and animal care, as well as with immediate relocation and supply needs.
4. Coordination with Researchers – Balance research continuity with operational stability.

BTM’s experience also emphasizes the importance of swing space. In this case, limited spare capacity made crisis response more difficult. (Future planning at BWH includes a more flexible facility design.)

Building a More Resilient Future

For high-stakes research facilities, the lessons from BTM’s vivarium flood serve as a critical reminder: preparation, flexibility, and a resilient team make all the difference in overcoming a crisis. Since the flood at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, preventative measures have been put in place, including enhanced alarms, improved insulation, and reinforced rooftop doors.

In addition, “I now receive emergency notifications directly,” says Thompson. “I’d rather be flooded with emails than flooded with water.”

While no facility is immune to disaster, Thompson and Spencer are confident that their team is now better equipped to face the next challenge. “We can’t prevent every crisis,” says Spencer, “but we can be prepared to respond faster and smarter.”

By Liz Batchelder