Category Archives: Government/Military

Cleveland, OH – Sprinkler system contains overnight fire at government office

According to Cleveland fire officials, a computer on the fourth floor caught fire at Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s headquarters at 3900 Euclid Avenue just after midnight Monday. The sprinkler system was triggered and contained the fire to the desk where the computer was located near the middle of the building.

Cleveland firefighters said the windows in the building are bolted shut and that delayed them from clearing the smoke. Firefighters used four large fans to ventilate the building once the windows were opened. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District CEO Julius Ciaccia Jr. said they will be open Monday and the damage was minimal to the area of the fire on the fourth floor. The scene was cleared just before 1:30 a.m.

Minneapolis, MN – Fire at City Hall extinguished by sprinklers

A fire broke out at Minneapolis City Hall overnight, forcing 911 dispatchers to evacuate. The fire started in a Minneapolis police evidence room around 1 a.m. Monday.

The city hall sprinkler system put out the fire, but also caused some water damage. City hall offices will be open for business as usual Monday, but the police evidence room will remain closed.

The 911 dispatch center is located near the evidence room, so workers were moved to the third precinct headquarters to continue handling calls. By 5:30 a.m. Monday, all 911 staff returned to the call center at city hall, with services operating normally.

Santa Ana, CA – Fire at John Wayne Airport contained by sprinkler system

A small fire caused some damage inside John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana early today.  The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. near Gate 7 of Terminal A at the airport, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.

The fire was contained by an overhead sprinkler and extinguished by about 20 firefighters, Concialdi said. No injuries were reported and no flights were affected, he said.

Muskegon, MI – Sprinkler system prevents spread of fire at city maintenance garage

A Muskegon Police Department cruiser was destroyed in a fire inside the city’s Department of Public Works garage Wednesday afternoon, March 25. An automatic sprinkler system quickly suppressed the fire, stopping it from spreading and preventing major damage to the building and other vehicles. Muskegon Fire Department firefighters, arriving on the scene, finished the job of extinguishing the blaze.

No one was hurt because no one was in the building at the time – employees were in a staff meeting off site, according to Muskegon Fire Marshal Major Metcalf. The fire was reported shortly after 1 p.m.  Fire and police officials late Wednesday were still investigating, but the cause may have been electrical problems with the cruiser that burned, Metcalf said. The car was at the DPW building for maintenance, and mechanics told fire investigators that one reported problem was with the electrical system, Metcalf said.

Besides the ruined cruiser, there was minor smoke and water damage inside the building and smoke stains on the outside of other vehicles, including two police cruisers and a fire engine, Metcalf said. “We didn’t find any major damage to any work areas,” he said.

“The one thing I was impressed with, the sprinkler system in the DPW was operational, in service, and it did prevent the fire from growing out of control,” the fire marshal said. “I was very pleased about that. Our firefighters arrived on the scene and fully extinguished it.”

Atlanta, GA – Fire at CDC laboratory controlled with help from sprinkler system

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closed one of its laboratory buildings Wednesday after an overnight fire. CDC officials say the fire broke out around midnight in the Rubella lab in Building 18. They say the laboratory’s water sprinkler system functioned properly, and local fire and CDC officials responded accordingly.

No one was injured and there was no release or loss of containment of any germs. Officials are investigating the cause of the fire but say early indications point to a piece of laboratory equipment that malfunctioned. The building houses about 470 employees. In addition to rubella, scientists in the building also work on measles, mumps, HIV, meningitis, hepatitis, norovirus and other pathogens.

Agawam, MA – Sprinklers help put out fire at Department of Public Works garage

A fire broke out Saturday morning at the Department of Public Works building on Suffield Street.  Agawam Fire Chief Alan Sirois told WGGB that one of the trucks caught fire, but firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes.  Sirois said damage to the building at 1000 Suffield Street was minimal.

Sirois told the news station that the building’s sprinkler system averted what could have amounted to millions of dollars in damage. The truck was a total loss, he added.  The cause of the fire is still under investigation but the building will be open on Monday morning.

Norfolk, MA – Fire from gas explosion at District Attorney’s office contained with help from sprinklers

A gas explosion and fire early Sunday at Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey’s Canton offices was “held in check by outside master streams and operating sprinkler heads,” Canton fire Chief Charles Doody said.

Doody said firefighters secured vital records and evidence once they were able to stabilize the office building, which shares the Shawmut Industrial Park with the separately housed Norfolk Probate and Family Court.

Doody said the office building’s roof was recently cleared off, leaving gas meters buried “under several feet of snow.”  Around 1:50 a.m. yesterday, gas backed into a mechanical room, ignited and exploded, 
severely damaging a wall shared by the first and second floors.

Redmond, WA – Sprinkler douses fire at teen center

The Old Fire House Teen Center (OFH) in Redmond is closed today and Saturday due to a small fire that occurred in the building’s media lab early Thursday morning.

The fire was limited to a mixing board in the room and was contained by the sprinkler system.

Rana Shmait, program coordinator for the OFH, said the center will be closed just for clean up and there are no safety concerns.

Concord, NH – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at Merrimack County Courthouse

A sprinkler system helped put out a fire and save county property at the Merrimack County Superior Courthouse in Concord Sunday. The fire is believed to have started in a vending machine on the first floor of the building. A preliminary investigation by the Concord Fire Department, the state fire marshal’s office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined the fire to have been accidental, according to a press release issued yesterday by the state fire marshal’s office.

The Concord Fire Department was called to 163 N. Main St. at 10:13 a.m. after receiving an alert from an automatic fire alarm. Firefighters arrived on scene at 10:18 a.m. to find smoke in the building and an active sprinkler in a room of vending machines. The building was closed and secure at the time of the fire. Fire Marshal J. William Degnan said the sprinkler system “prevented a much larger fire and loss of county property, as well as reduced the danger to firefighters.”

The fire came two days after another one in a similarly unattended public building, in that case owned by the town of Henniker. The Henniker Highway Department garage, which wasn’t outfitted with a sprinkler system, and several town vehicles were destroyed in that fire, with damage estimated to be about $1 million.

Riverhead, NY – Sprinkler system activates; Helps control fire in records storage room

Riverhead firefighters found paper records burning in a second-floor records storage room at the county center when they responded to an automatic alarm this afternoon just before 1 o’clock.

There was a heavy smoke condition on the second floor when the first fire chief arrived. He immediately called for the department to respond to a working structure fire.  The fire activated the sprinkler system in that area of the building.

The chief called for the county fire marshal to respond and investigate. Firefighters quickly put the fire out. No one was injured in the incident.