A University of Hawaii building is severely damaged after a fire.

It wasn't flames that caused the destruction. It was water -- tons of it.

The fire overnight melted a pipe in Edmondson Hall.

That pipe burst and flooded three floors of the science building and KGMB9 just gotten word that all classes in Edmondson Hall are cancelled for Monday.

It was an unusual sight on campus.

Water pouring through the front of Edmondson Hall as fire crews swept inches of it from the hallways.

Ceiling panels crumbled to the floor and lab equipment was destroyed.

The mess was caused by flooding but was started was something else.

"There was a fire, perhaps an electrical one," said Gregg Takayama, University of Hawaii spokesman.

A UH spokesman said a small fire sparked ignited on a desktop in a third floor office Saturday night.

"The fire caused damage to a sink and melted the copper pipe that was connected to the sink," Takayama said.

Fortunately, the pipe burst and the water extinguished the fire.

However, after leaking all night, the H20 caused severe water damage to the science building and destroyed a life's worth of research for many professors.

"We were storing a lot of the material, five cases worth, in the back of my husband's office here, photographic collection of endangered birds that we've studied for the last 20 years on the Big Island," said Rebecca Cann, University of Hawaii professor.

The university said it plans to hire a private company to help repair what the water destroyed.

But the professors said there are some things such as specimens and research date they may not be able to replace.

"It's quite discouraging, it will take a long time to clean up and assess what's gone," Cann said.

A UH spokesman said because Edmondson Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus it does not have an automatic sprinkler system.

No word yet on how much damage the fire and flooding caused.

---