Category Archives: Office Building

Office Building, Other Business

Waianae, HI – Sprinkler system helps stop arson attack on office; No injuries reported

Megale Cole is counting his blessings. He said, he is thankful no one was hurt in the early morning attack on his HI Royalty Records office in Waianae.

He was picking up the pieces of charred mementos that survived the firebomb less then 12 hours prior.

He held up an old photo of himself in his army uniform from basic training more than two decades earlier, the edges charred.

“It’s one of the few pictures I have leftover from those days. I don’t have many of these. It means a lot to me,” he said, holding the partially burned photograph.

The Army veteran said, his military training kicked in as soon as the firebomb exploded through his office door just before 3 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 22.

“I think my army training is what saved me today. That’s the truth,” Cole said, matter-of-factly.

Cole said, he was working late and stopped to take a break when he heard a crackling noise outside. He said, it sounded like fire so he stood up to check it out.

“I see the crackling through the door. I see the fire, the flames. I see an individual that’s short through the crack in the door,” Cole said. “Next thing I know, I hear the flame, it hits the door and it goes through. lt hits the wall and flame shot off the wall.”

He said, the flames spread to the couch.

“So I hurried up, got my army gear, and put out the fire to the couch. I came back over here and start putting the fire out,” Cole explained as he pointed to the wall above his desk.

That is when the sprinkler system kicked on, helping to put out the fire and minimizing the damage to his office.

“I had a lot of past pictures of my family on the wall so some of that got burnt off. So there’s water damage, computer damage, furniture damage and the carpets of course, it’s a lot of water to drain out.”

But he knows things could have been much worse. Police found evidence from a gasoline bomb once they arrived.

“It was a brick metal Molotov Cocktail bottle. The bottle they used, the Coke bottle, was found here (as he pointed to his desk). It was a metal pipe they used to project it through (the door). We found evidence outside — two pieces of evidence outside,” he said.

Cole got emotional as he talked about the attack he believes may have been racially motivated.

“This was an attack on me as a soldier, as a part-time recruiter, as a veteran, as a father. And again, if this can happen to me here, this can happen to anyone… I don’t hate the person who did this, but I want the world to see this. I wasn’t doing anything wrong but this is our country. This is where it’s at,” Cole said, choking back tears.

Cole said, he spoke to the Honolulu Police Department and the FBI. The investigation is ongoing, according to police.

Office Building, Other Business

Cincinnati, OH – High rise fire in eighth floor office contained by fire sprinklers

A fire in the U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Cincinnati caused $100,000-worth of damage Wednesday night.

Some 48 Cincinnati firefighters responded to the tower at 425 Walnut St. after a fire alarm went off shortly before 10 p.m., the department said in a press release.

The first fire companies to arrive asked dispatch to send a full high-rise complement of firefighters after determining that the alarm was sounding on the eighth floor and that smoke was visible there, the release said.

Firefighters subsequently discovered a small fire in one office that was mostly contained by the sprinkler system.

“The remaining fire was extinguished with a water can,” the release said.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.

Operating smoke detectors were in place.

The release said there was fire damage to the office, smoke damage to the eighth and ninth floors, minor water damage to the seventh floor and heavy water damage to the eighth floor.

Office Building, Other Business

Montgomery County, TX – Single fire sprinkler controls fire and limits damage after neon wall sign caught fire at commercial building

Early this morning, Montgomery County Firefighters responded to a fire alarm in a multi-tenant commercial building.

A neon wall sign caught fire and started to spread slowly via a plastic plant used for wall decoration. The plastic material had previously been tested by an MCFMO Fire Inspector during an occupancy inspection and met safety codes for its ability to limit fire spread.

The fire eventually emitted enough heat to activate a single fire sprinkler, controlling the fire and preventing any business disruption for the building tenants.

Office Building, Other Business

Durham, NC – Sprinkler system contains sixth floor fire at downtown plaza; No injuries reported

Firetrucks blocked most of CCB Plaza on Thursday morning as firefighters worked to put out a fire that erupted on the sixth floor of One City Center. So far, no injuries had been reported.

“It’s a large building, so we’re still going through it and trying to determine the extent of the damage,” said assistant chief Andy Sannipoli. The building’s sprinkler system managed to keep the fire in check.

The One City Center is the site of B.Good, Pokeworks, and Bulldega Urban Market, as well as five levels of office space and 21 stories of apartments. There’s no word on whether or how the fire affected the retail space.

Sannipoli says firefighters rescued a dog that had been left during the evacuation of the sixth floor, but the dog was fine and has been returned to its owners. People will most likely be able to return to the building by 1:00 p.m.

Office Building, Other Business

Meriden, CT – Sprinkler system contains fire in dust collection system at office building

Hundreds of employees of a business in Meriden were evacuated after a fire on Wednesday.

Firefighters who were driving by the Meriden Enterprise Center on the way to another call around 10:10 a.m. reported what they believed was a furnace malfunction in the basement of the business, fire officials said.

After an investigation, firefighters said they found a working fire in a dust collection system in the basement. The dust collection system spread through the vents of the building.

The fire is under control, however, there was significant smoke, authorities added. A working sprinkler system contained the fire to one room.

Three hundred employees of the business were evacuated, fire officials said.

A nearby church was also evacuated because of the fire.

The Twitter account for Episcopal Church in Connecticut in Meriden says all church staff who were there are safe and evacuated.

No additional information was immediately available.  

Office Building, Other Business

Harrison County, MS – Fire sprinklers help put out fire at trucking company; No injuries reported

Firefighters in Harrison County rushed to a trucking company early Monday morning. They received a report around 2:30 a.m. that a company’s fire alarm sounded on Canal Road in Harrison County.

When they arrived, heavy smoke billowed out of the building. Other fire units, CRTC and Gulfport Fire Department, were called in to help contain the fire.

Firefighters– in conjunction with the sprinkler system– successfully put out the fire.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, and so far, no injuries have been reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Des Moines, IA – Fire sprinklers contained second floor fire at downtown Capital Square building; No injuries reported

No injuries have been reported in a fire Thursday morning that forced people to evacuate a downtown Des Moines building.

The blaze began a little before 7:30 a.m. on the third floor of the Capital Square building, which counts The Des Moines Register newspaper among its tenants.

Flames and some shattered windows could be seen from the street.

Fire Department spokesman Rick Thomas says most of the flames had been knocked down by a little after 8 a.m. He told the newspaper that fire sprinklers checked the blaze until firefighters could begin their work.

The fire cause is being investigated. 

Office Building, Other Business

Farmers Branch, TX – (no media coverage) Sprinkler system contains fire caused by overheated machine

On November 18, 2019, at approximately 5:41 pm, the Farmers Branch Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm – water flow alarm at RMAX, located at 13524 Welch Rd..  Farmers Branch Engine 132 arrived on scene at 5:45 pm with nothing showing.  Upon further investigation, building personnel directed the crew to a manufacturing processing machine.  The product within the machine overheated  causing one internal sprinkler head to activate.  Fire loss was estimated to be $0.  Engine 132 crew shut off the control valve.  Building occupants notified their fire protection company to replace the sprinkler head and recharge the system.  Engine 132 cleared at 5:55 pm.

Office Building, Other Business

Stamford, CT – Sprinkler system helps contain fire on Thanksgiving at commercial building; No injuries reported

Stamford firefighters extinguished a pair of structure fires Thanksgiving night, according to fire officials. No injuries were reported.

The first blaze was reported just before 10 p.m. at a large, multi-business commercial building on Union Street in the Glenbrook section of the city, the cause of which remains under investigation.

“Upon arrival, Engine 6 from the Glenbrook fire house found the building sprinkler system activated and a strong odor of smoke from the exterior,” wrote Stamford Deputy Fire Chief Eric Lorenz in a statement. “Fire fighters discovered a heavy smoke condition inside the building in a tenant space utilized as a wood-working shop. Fire fighters stretched hose lines, and deployed search ropes to overcome maze like conditions. The source of the smoke was determined to be from a fire involving a dust collection unit in the shop. The fire was held in check by one activated sprinkler head. Fire fighters extinguished the remaining fire and ventilated the building using mechanical fans.”

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Office Building, Other Business

Kennesaw, GA – Chemical fire extinguished by sprinkler system

Around 400 people were evacuated from a building on Roberts Boulevard in Kennesaw after a small chemical fire Tuesday morning.

Capt. Joseph Bryant of the Cobb County Fire Department said testing from the county’s hazmat team showed the building was safe to reenter. The chemicals involved include sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and several that are unknown but which were used in minuscule quantities.

Three employees of CryoLife, a medical device company, were working with the chemicals when a reaction set off a small fire and the building’s sprinkler system. The sprinklers extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived at the scene.

One of the three employees was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Bryant said the fire was not as serious as the county’s response would suggest.

“Any time we have a hazmat response, we send a ton of equipment out there,” he said.

As a precaution, firefighters were decontaminated as they left the building.