Shut off the water first, before anything else. A burst supply line releases water by the minute, and the time between noticing and shutting off usually matters more than how quickly anyone can reach you. Then kill power to affected areas, document for insurance, and call.
Shut Off the Water
If the break is at a single fixture, use the angle stop directly beneath it, which is the small valve on the wall under a sink or behind a toilet. Turning it clockwise closes it. If that valve is seized, which happens on older ones, go to the main.
For anything larger, use the main shutoff. In Riverside County homes it is usually near the front of the house close to a hose bib, at the water meter near the street, or in the garage near the water heater. Turn it clockwise until it stops. If you have never located it, that is the single most useful five minutes you can spend before an emergency rather than during one, and it is worth confirming it actually turns, because valves that have not moved in twenty years sometimes seize.
If the burst is on the hot side, also shut the cold inlet valve at the top of your water heater and turn off the gas control or the breaker to the unit.
Then Power, Then Documentation
If water is anywhere near outlets, appliances, or the electrical panel, shut off power to those circuits at the breaker before entering the area. Do not stand in water to reach a panel. If the panel itself is in the affected area or you are unsure, stay out and call an electrician alongside the plumber.
Once it is safe, photograph and video everything before you start cleaning up. Insurance adjusters work from evidence, and the state of the damage before mitigation is what supports a claim. Keep the failed section of pipe if it comes out, because it can matter for cause determination.
Then start mitigation: move furniture and belongings out, get towels and buckets down, and open windows or run fans if it is safe. Most policies require you to take reasonable steps to limit damage, and doing so also reduces mold risk, which begins within roughly forty-eight hours of sustained moisture.
What Caused It Matters for What Comes Next
A single burst at a fitting or from physical damage is a repair. A burst in a run of pipe that has been developing pinhole leaks elsewhere is a symptom of a system at end of life, and repairing this one spot means waiting for the next.
In this area, the common underlying causes are hard water corroding copper from the inside over decades, excessive water pressure from a failed regulator stressing every joint in the house, and in older homes, galvanized steel that has been corroding for fifty years. A plumber should tell you which, because that determines whether you are done after the repair.
First Five Minutes
- Shut off the water at the fixture valve or the main
- Shut off the water heater cold inlet and its gas or power if the burst is on the hot side
- Cut power at the breaker to any circuit near standing water
- Photograph and video everything before cleanup
- Move belongings and furniture clear of the water
- Start extracting water and improving airflow if it is safe to do so
- Call a plumber and describe what happened and what you have shut off
Treat as an Emergency If
- Water is still escaping and you cannot shut it off
- Water is near electrical outlets, appliances, or the panel
- Water is coming through a ceiling
- The burst is on a main line rather than a single fixture
- You have no water to the property at all
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Emergency Plumber • Pipe Repair & Repiping • Water Leak Detection