All posts by viking210

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Fort Worth, TX – Sprinklers activate after books set on fire during elementary school break-in

There has been a break-in and six classrooms vandalized on the campus of a Crowley Independent School District elementary school.

The vandalism happened at Meadowcreek Elementary in Fort Worth, where Monday cleanup crews were busy mopping up.

In all, six rooms received water damage after fires caused the sprinkler system to go off. In addition to damage inside the school, graffiti was also spray-painted outside the building.

On what is supposed to be summer vacation, school officials are back on the Meadowbrook campus to oversee the cleanup of charred debris from burned books and school supplies.

According to a Crowley ISD spokesperson, the school was broken into and the books set on fire around 3 a.m. Monday. Right now, investigators are also looking in to whether several computer monitors were also stolen.

School cameras captured video of the suspect. It’s since been turned over to Fort Worth police.

Crowley district spokesperson Anthony Kirchner explained that the cleanup is expected to take a couple of weeks.

“It is disheartening to see that someone would cause this kind of damage and we want to make sure that person is apprehended,” he said adding that the summer break gives the district time for cleanup, repairs and equipment replacement. “This happened at a time when no students or teachers were here and we have plenty of time to get everything back.”

This isn’t the first time vandals have struck at Meadowcreek. This past Friday a window was broken at the school. It isn’t known if the two cases are connected.

Classes resume in the Crowley ISD on August 22.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Arcola, IL – Fire at senior living facility contained to one room by sprinkler system

In a fire minutes count. Practice and training pay off. On Saturday morning at about 1:30am staff at Carriage Crossing in the Green Mill Village development in Arcola noticed smoke.  Within moments are fire sprinkler was activated and staff at the assisted living facility began evacuating residents near the area of the fire.  With the help of firefighters all 46 residents were removed from the building.

“Those individuals and those residents were out within seven minutes. So the training paid off.  Everyone stayed very calm,” Cassie Yoder of Green Mill Village told WAND’s Doug Wolfe.  “Residents were with the people they knew.”

Residents are now housed in the adjoining Best Western Plus which is a sister property to Carriage Crossing. Residents and staff have settled in to a normal routine. On Monday, clean-up was underway.

“Most of the damage is just from the sprinkler system and water damage,” said co-owner Jeff Bentley. “It’s contained to one room and at this point we don’t know what caused it yet.”

Bentley says his company has constructed a new facility in Champaign that is similar to the one in Arcola. His staff is attempting to get state licensing to speed up so some of the residents can be moved to Champaign.

The state fire marshal’s office was at Carriage Crossing on Monday attempting to determine a cause of the fire.

Adult Care/Rehab Center, Hospital/Care Facility

Marshall, MO – Sprinklers help extinguish bedroom fire at home for developmentally disabled

A bedroom fire at Northwest Community Services — previously known as the Marshall Habilitation Center — Saturday, June 25, could have resulted in more damage than was done.

According to the Marshall Fire Department, firefighters arrived to a call at NCS shortly before 6 p.m., seeing light smoke. The incident occurred in unit 221, and the unit’s sprinkler system had activated by the time MFD arrived.

“We were there for a while, because of the water damage,” Marshall Fire Chief Tony Day said, indicating there was more water damage than fire damage because the sprinklers “did their job.” MFD started ventilation, removed burnt clothing from the residential unit and turned the scene over to maintenance once they confirmed the fire was out.

After further investigation into the cause of the fire, one of the residents admitted to setting her clothes on fire and flushing the lighter down a toilet, Day said. In addition to destroying clothes, the fire burned the armoire they were stored in and scorched the walls, but not badly. MFD left the scene at 7:15 p.m.

There was an estimated property loss of $10,000, and content loss was estimated at $3,000.

Northwest Community Services, a developmental disability facility, is located at 700 E. Slater Street, in north Marshall.

Other - Residential, Residential

Adams, MA – No injuries reported as sprinkler system puts out fire at homeless shelter

Twelve Louison House residents were displaced after a small attic fire that was largely extinguished by the house’s sprinkler system.

Assistant Fire Chief John Pansecchi said the electrical fire broke out in the attic around 11:45 Sunday morning but was quickly snuffed out by the family support center’s sprinkler system.

“There were no injuries and minimal fire damage, and I can’t stress enough how much the sprinkler system probably saved that building,” Pansecchi said. “The sprinklers put the fire out in the area so basically we just investigated and tried to determine the cause.”

He said the water damage was caused by the sprinkler system and two families and four individuals were put up at a nearby hotel. The Louison House and the Red Cross provided this support.

It is unknown at this point when residents can move back into the house; the building inspector must make a ruling first.

Pansecchi said the Adams Police and Ambulance were present and Cheshire Fire covered the Adams Station.

Pansecchi said the knockdown was a great success and went smoothly.

“It was a success,” he said. “It was an hour and a half for us there compared to the four hours we spent on Park Street.”

Other Business, Recycling / Waste Facility

Chandler, AZ – Sprinkler system helps contain early morning fire at recycling plant

Firefighters from Chandler and Gilbert were battling an early-morning fire at an East Valley recycling plant.

An employee at the plant at 1100 N. Hamilton St.noticed fire in a pile of materials outside the facility but on plant property.

Reverse 911 was used to notify the surrounding neighborhood of the fire.

A sprinkler system activated and helped contain the fire.

Dense smoke blanketed the area. No one was hurt.

Once it’s safe to move in closer, investigators will try to determine what triggered the fire.

As of 7:30 a.m., the westbound lanes of Ray Road between Hamilton and Arizona avenues were closed.

Apartment Building, Residential

Plymouth Meeting, PA – Sprinkler system credited with saving life and property in apartment fire

An accidental fire at the Parc Apartments on Plymouth Road Friday morning caused fire and water damage to one apartment and water damage to an additional nine to 10 apartments.

“The husband and wife living in the third-floor apartment tried to put out the fire in the kitchen,” said Andrew Mount, the Plymouth fire marshal. “They pulled the fire alarm in Building 5000 and evacuated with other residents of the building. The sprinkler system in the apartment had extinguished the fire by the time the fire companies arrived.”

The Harmonville and Plymouth fire companies were the first fire companies to respond to the 8:46 a.m. fire, Mount said. The Conshohocken Fire Company No. 2, Lincoln, Wissahickon and Barren Hill fire companies also responded to the fire along with Plymouth Ambulance.

“The sprinkler system most certainly saved a life and it minimized the damage to the building,” Mount said. “If we didn’t have a sprinkler system in the building firefighters could still be fighting this fire.”

There were no injuries reported.

Mount said that the Parc Apartments management has hired a restoration company to clean up water damage in the second-floor apartments. He said the company will return later to make permanent repairs as well.

“Someone might be critical of the water damage,” Mount said, “but there is less fire damage and less water damage compared to the amount of water the firefighters would use to put out the same fire.”

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Peoria, IL – Fire at senior living center controlled by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Peoria Fire officials are investigating a blaze that broke out Thursday at Courtyard Estates at 1117 N. Western Ave. There was a reported explosion from one of the apartments, however officials cannot determine if there actually was one. Fire crews discovered the blaze in an apartment on the fourth floor where they found an air conditioning unit that appeared to have an electrical issue and caught fire. The complex’s sprinkler system activated, according to Battalion Chief Aldo Scott. A fire investigator was called to the scene to determine an official cause. No injuries were reported.

College/University (on campus), School / University

West Lafayette, IN – Fire in computer lab at Purdue University extinguished with help from sprinkler system

A fire occurred at Purdue University’s Hampton Civil Engineering building this morning. The entire building was evacuated after smoke alarms detected the fire at roughly 11:30 a.m. Aaron Bukowski is a Junior in the College of Department of Physics and Astronomy.  He was in the building when the fire began.

“We were working in our lab and we smelled something burning and the fire alarms ended up going off,” said Bukowski. “They evacuated the whole building and by the time we got out was maybe two minutes before the fire department showed up. Then we saw them go in then they came back out, put their gear on, and went back in. Now their squeegeeing water off the floor.”

By roughly 12:15 p.m. three marked police vehicles were present on the scene, as well as three possible unmarked vehicles. Other safety vehicles present included one fire engine, one ambulance, one fire command, as well as at least seven Purdue University vehicles.

Kevin M. Ply is a fire chief for the Purdue University Fire Department. He was among those that responded to the call. “The fire department was dispatched here on an active fire alarm for Hampton at 11:14 a.m,” said Ply. “One of our ambulances was out on campus. They arrived at 11:15 a.m. so a minute later. When they arrived the building was being evacuated.” Ply said, “the fire alarm panel indicated an active sprinkler head in room 1268. When they proceeded to that area they encountered smoke and water coming from out of the door.”

After informing the rest of the first responders, they forced entry to the room, put out the fire, and confirmed that it had not spread to the rest of the building. There was “minimal damage” according to Ply.  Room 1268 is a computer lab in Hampton. Ply said the fire only affected a limited portion of the room. He confirmed there were no occupants in the room at the time and the room was secured.

“The fire was extinguished pretty quickly, we got to sprinklers shut down pretty quickly,” said Ply. “We’re working with the police department to determine the cause. Right now, it doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious but we’re going to try to determine exactly what the cause was.”

The old section of Hampton has been reopened, as well as parts of the new section where the fire occurred. The room is expected to reopen after the police department concludes its investigation.

“The key thing is we had a quick response, the sprinkler system did its job and contained the fire from spreading,” said Ply. “So everything worked the way it should.”

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Battle Creek, MI – Kitchen fire at senior apartment complex controlled with help from sprinkler system

NORTH POINTE WOODS FIRE: Damage was estimated at $20,000 after a fire at North Pointe Woods at 700 North Ave. Battle Creek firefighters were called at 6:43 a.m. Monday, the city reported in a news release on Thursday. Firefighters said the fire began on the stove when a stove burner was left on. The fire activated the sprinkler system. A second-floor apartment was damaged with smoke and water and a first floor apartment below had water damage. A hallway on the first floor also filled with water. Residents remained in their apartments as firefighters used ventilators to remove smoke from the hallways.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Omaha, NE – Sprinkler system activates to help limit damage in overnight restaurant fire

A fire early Wednesday in the kitchen of an Old Market restaurant did not appear to cause significant damage. But the blaze set off smoke alarms and a sprinkler system and forced the evacuation of a nearby nightclub, according to initial 911 dispatch reports.

Roja Mexican Grill, 1212 Harney St., was closed when the fire was reported about 12:30 a.m. Police helped evacuate people from Parliament Pub.