SIGMA Saves the Day in Skokie, IL

When SIGMA Assistant Branch Manager Kwame Williams’s phone rang last Saturday at 5:15am, he knew it was not good news. Skokie, Illinois, a town outside of Chicago with a population of 65,000, had a massive water main break resulting in major flooding. Complicating matters, the frigid temps meant the water was freezing on all surfaces, many people were without fresh water, there was boiling order in place, and the town needed fittings and restraint fast. The main that broke was a 36-inch line, which meant an enormous amount of water spilling out and in many areas it had frozen, leaving behind 18 inches of solid ice. The situation was dire.

Kwame sprung to action, shoveled his car out and headed to the SIGMA warehouse. He arrived at SIGMA, where he shoveled a path through the parking lot and pulled out the products that the town of Skokie needed to repair the water main: a 36” ONE-LOK Restraint and a 36” MJ Bell Fitting. By 7:30 that morning, he had loaded the material onto the forklift and had it ready when the truck arrived. Kwame explains: “Working in the waterworks industry we know that if something goes wrong it’s a really big problem: it's water! So we do whatever is needed, especially in an emergency, to help our customers. There’s a lot of competition in the market and at SIGMA we set ourselves apart by going the extra mile.”

SIGMA has made a strategic effort to ensure that all of our warehouses are fully supplied so that we can deliver for every customer every day. When you call us at 5:15 on a snowy Saturday morning with an emergency, we are there for you. The Restraint and Fitting were delivered to Skokie in a timely fashion, and the crews were able to install the material that same day. The town’s water service was restored, and within two days, the boil water order was lifted. SIGMA was pleased to play a role in responding to the emergency and we wish the citizens of Skokie well as they deal with the cleanup and fallout from the flooding.