Category Archives: Government/Military

Sprinkler system contains truck fire at City of Dayton garage (Dayton, OH)

Dayton crews were dispatched just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The sprinkler system in the City of Dayton garage at the public works facility worked as designed in containing the vehicle fire to the one heavy-duty truck, Dayton Fire Chief and Director Jeffrey Payne said.  The sprinkler system had knocked out the flames by the time firefighters arrived, he said.  An investigator was called to the scene as a matter of standard department protocol, as Payne said it appears no one was in the building when the fire erupted under the truck’s hood.

Fire at MSP international airport controlled by single sprinkler (Minneapolis, MN)

A small fire in a break room at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport set off smoke detectors and a sprinkler above Gate G-1, causing some minor disruption before operations returned to normal. “It was a small stove fire in a storage and break area,” MSP spokesman Patrick Hogan said Monday. The fire was in an employee-only area, one floor above the public concourse used by passengers.

Fire at library halted by single sprinkler (Lake Forest, IL)

At around 9:15 p.m. on January 14, the Lake Forest Fire Department was called to the Lake Forest Library when heavy smoke was reported coming from the building. Fire crews, confirming that there were no occupants in the building, reported that the fire began when a broken light bulb fell from the ceiling and ignited a chair. A single fire sprinkler controlled the fire from spreading. There were no injuries reported.

Sprinkler system contains fire at probation office (Lompoc, CA)

Fire crews responded in less than a minute in response to a late night fire at a probation office on September 5. They arrived to find the fire in the office contained by it’s fire sprinkler system; the crew extinguished the remaining flames. The building was unoccupied when the fire began, and the fire is being deemed as suspicious.

Sprinklers control engine/pumper fire at volunteer fire department (Vernon Township, PA)

“If it hadn’t been for the fire alarm system and the sprinklers, we’d have been in deep trouble,” said Tom Benak, a trustee and an assistant chief with Vernon Central Hose Co.  The fire, which occured around 11:45 PM on Tuesday night, was ruled accidental due to an electrical wiring malfunction in the crew compartment area behind the driver’s seat.

Library arson fire controlled by sprinkler system (Brooksville, FL)

Firefighters were called to the East Hernando Branch Library in Brooksville on July 6 to put out a small fire. While no one was hurt, the smoke activated the building’s sprinkler system, damaging much of the inventory.

(*** BLOG EDITOR’S NOTE – Only the substantial heat from potentially deadly and damaging fire will operate a fire sprinkler, not smoke.  This fire was likely kept small due to the sprinkler system, which helped limit the damage to this structure)