Category Archives: Manufacturing Plant

Overnight fire at manufacturing business held in check by sprinkler system (St. Charles, IL)

The St. Charles Fire Department responded to an activated fire alarm at 4:15 a.m. at Eifeler-Lafer Inc., located at 3800 Commerce Drive. The company provides steel and carbide coating, which is used in making tools and medical devices. The business was closed at the time of the fire and no employees or other occupants were inside.  An overhead sprinkler helped keep the fire in check and firefighters were able to extinguish the rest in about 30 minutes. No firefighters were injured.

Firefighters credit sprinkler system for controlling fire at manufacturing plant (Temple, TX)

Crews responded to a fire Saturday afternoon at the Lock Joint Tube manufacturing plant in Temple. When crews got there they found employees had already evacuated the building. When they went inside, they found one fire sprinkler head flowing water close to machinery which had a small amount of fire underneath. Crews put out the flames and credit the fire sprinkler system with keeping the fire from spreading.

Sprinklers help extinguish overnight fire at Toll Brothers’ plant (Morrisville, PA)

A Morrisville factory escaped serious damage Tuesday morning after a machine malfunction started a fire in a ventilation system that collects sawdust.  The accidental fire occurred shortly after midnight at a Toll Brothers’ construction plant, which makes panels for the builder’s homes.The fire forced the evacuation of the plant, but the business’ sprinkler system started putting out the fire before firefighters arrived and finished the job, Morrisville Fire Marshal Robert Seward said.

Fire kept in check by sprinkler system at Northrop Grumman facility (Rolling Meadows, IL)

“We responded to a call that came in around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday reporting an electrical explosion,” Rolling Meadows Fire Chief Scott Franzgrote said Tuesday night. “When we arrived we found an electrical panel accident and an arc fire …”

Franzgrote said the fire suppression system and sprinklers helped to fully contain the fire in a large mechanical room where the explosion occurred. “The good design of the building and the suppression did its job well in containing the fire,” Franzgrote said. “The masonry of the room and the sprinklers prevented it from being a bigger incident.

Sprinkler system saves manufacturing plant from sustaining major damage (Thomasville, NC)

A sprinkler system saved a manufacturing plant from sustaining major damage, said Robbie Binkley, battalion chief for the Thomasville Fire Department.  Rocky Watts, division chief of code enforcement/fire marshal for the TFD, said the plant housed 100 gallons of sulfuric acid mixed with water in a chemical open system. He explained the fire was around the system. Watts said it appears the fire was a result of a shortage in the electrical wiring in the heating element of a chemical holding tank.  There was no structural damage and minimal smoke damage, the battalion chief reported. 

A fire destroyed the same business 10 years ago, at which time it did not have a sprinkler system, he said.  The sprinkler system “kept the fire in check and saved the building,” Binkley said. Watts said the company cleans racing parts and places a coating on them.

Damage minimized at manufacturing facility (Denison, TX)

A manufacturing facility fire on Tuesday morning is being investigated as suspicious. When fire crews responded to the fire at approximately 5 a.m., they found that the door to the building was open and smoke was pouring out of the facility. The building’s fire sprinkler had been activated when they arrived as well.

Manufacturing facility fire halted by sprinkler system (Lombard, IL)

A metal fabrication facility had a fire occur early Wednesday, June 11. No employees were present when the fire occurred, but the building was equipped with fire sprinklers, which contained the fire.

Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Howell said about the incident, “Basically the sprinkler system kept it in check. It could have been much worse.”

Investigating units are still determining the cause of the fire, but initial investigation shows the fire does not appear to be suspicious. No injuries were reported.

Sprinklers save lives and property at manufacturing facility fire (Middlebury, IN)

After some equipment caught on fire at a wood manufacturing facility early Friday morning, four area fire departments arrived to fight the flames. 

Middlebury Fire Chief Jeff Wogoman said, “I figured we’d have a beast on our hands, but it went pretty smooth.”

The facility was equipped with fire sprinklers, which contained the the flames. 

“If they didn’t have a sprinkler system, it probably would have burned down,” Chief Wogoman said. “That’s what saved the building – that early control of the fire.”