Category Archives: Office Building

Office Building, Restaurant

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Sprinklers activate, assist firefighters in extinguishing restaurant fire at downtown high rise

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The Bank of America building in downtown Fort Lauderdale was evacuated Thursday after a fire broke out in a restaurant located inside the building. A Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue representative said the grease fire began on the first floor of the building inside the grill at Grille 401. He said firefighters could see black smoke coming from the restaurant upon arrival.

 “When crews arrived, they found heavy black smoke coming from the upper part of the parking garage,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Capt. Greg May said. “The sprinkler heads activated like they were supposed to, but the fire got in the duct system and traveled the length of the building which is several hundred feet.”

“We looked out the side window here, and it was just covered in smoke,” Britny Alexander, who was inside the building at the time, said.

All 23 floors of the building were evacuated for several hours. No injuries were reported. Firefighters said Grille 401 would be closed for the remainder of the day. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Office Building, Other Business

Stamford, CT – Fire in records room at office building put out by sprinkler system

A fire suppression sprinkler system did what it was supposed to do and quickly put out a small fire in an Atlantic Street office building that broke out after hours. Firefighters were called to 1 Atlantic St. in response to an automatic fire alarm in the building Thursday at about 7 p.m., and found the sprinkler activated and smoke on the fourth floor of the building, according to a statement from Stamford Fire Department.

The fire started in a records room, it was determined, where firefighters found damage from fire, smoke and water, the statement said. They also found that just one sprinkler head of the automatic system had activated, and that it alone was able to control the fire. A total of five engines, one truck, one rescue and the deputy chief responded to the alarm arriving within three minutes. There were no injuries reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the City Fire Marshal’s Office.

Office Building, Other Business

Dayton, OH – Sprinkler system suppresses overnight fire at Standard Register Co.

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Passers-by saw smoke coming from the Standard Register Co. complex on Albany Street and alerted authorities, Dayton District Chief Joe Meyer said.Crews forced their way inside Building No. 2 and found fire on the second floor in a graphic arts storage area where papers, some ink products and other items were burning, he said. 

The sprinkler system suppressed the fire and did most of the work for fire crews and kept the damage to a minimum, Meyer said.

  Meyer could not estimate a dollar amount for the damage.   He said he doesn’t believe the fire was suspicious, but note that an arson investigator called in would have to determine the official cause of the fire.

Office Building, Other Business

Herndon, VA – Sprinkler helps contain high-rise fire to room of origin

There were no injuries in a fire in a high-rise office building near Dulles Airport on Tuesday, which started in a first-floor “battery room,” according to the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department. A security guard in the 10-story building called 911 after hearing an explosion.

Arriving on the scene at about 7:45 p.m., firefighters and rescue personnel found an electrical transformer on fire outside the building, the fire department said.

The building at 13820 Sunrise Valley Drive is the headquarters of Time-Warner, according to media reports. It is just south of the interchange of Route 28 and the Dulles Toll Road near Herndon.

The firefighters also encountered heavy smoke coming from the lower level of the building, with flames coming from the battery room.

The incident commander sounded a second alarm, bringing more than 60 firefighters to the scene, the fire department said. There were about 50 employees in the building when the fire broke out, and the firefighters ensured all occupants got out.

The firefighters contained the blaze to the battery room and the transformer; it didn’t spread to other parts of the building, the fire department said. The building’s automatic fire alarm activated, as well as one sprinkler head, which helped contain the blaze.

The fire department estimated that damage to the building totals $2 million. According to fire investigators, the blaze was accidental. They traced the cause to an “electrical event” in the control module of the building’s power supply.

Office Building, Other - Hospital/Medical

Elgin, IL – Sprinklers douse fire at medical building; Cause may have been lightning strike

Lightning may have started a small fire Friday in a northwest suburban medical office building, where an internal sprinkler system doused the flames before firefighters arrived. Elgin firefighters were called just before 7 a.m. Friday to the medical building at 1015 Summit St. after an employee arriving for work called to report a fire alarm going off, according to a statement from the Elgin Fire Department.

Firefighters heard a strobe horn going off, and saw water flowing out from an exterior door, but saw no smoke or flames. When the door was forced open, firefighters found that a fire had started in the telecommunications equipment and activated the sprinkler above. Investigators determined the cause of the blaze was “either an electrical issue or a lightning strike,” which caused the telecommunications equipment to catch fire until it grew strong enough to set off the sprinkler.

The alarm signal directly into the fire department did not activate because it is the telecommunications equipment that activates it, according to the department, which recommended a wireless system be installed. Fire and smoke damage to the building and contents was minimal, but the “building was determined to be unsafe due to an inoperative alarm, inactive sprinkler system, and unknown electrical conditions’ and consequently red-tagged,” the department said. City Code Enforcement inspectors were notified. No injuries were reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Covington, KY – Sprinklers help save Jackson Hewitt building, according to Fire Chief

Covington Fire Department investigated the cause of a blaze that was reported at about 9 p.m. Thursday. Covington Fire Chief Dan Mathew said members of his department were working with Covington Police detectives in an effort to determine how the fire started. He said there was more smoke than fire and that the sprinkler system saved the building.

The fire started in the Jackson Hewitt office, which is in the same building with Sims, according to Matt Day, who manages the store, which has been owned since 2011 by Eagle Financial Services. Day said the sprinkler system kicked on in the Jackson Hewitt building and that water from the sprinklers seeped into the basement showroom of Sims. He said he did not think there was any fire damage inside of Sims, which occupies three floors of the building.

Office Building

Fort Worth, TX – Fire at Mutual of Omaha high rise contained by sprinkler system

Emergency crews in Fort Worth responded to a fire alarm at a 12-story building on Thursday morning. It happened at about 3:45 a.m. at the Mutual of Omaha Bank building, located in the 6300 block of Ridglea Place.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and found a small fire in a cabinet on the building’s third floor. The flames were enough to start the building’s automatic sprinkler system and set off the fire alarm.

Crews had the fire extinguished within about 10 minutes of its discovery. After an extensive search of all floors, workers determined that the building was unoccupied at the time of the fire. The overnight cleaning crews had already left the premises, and there were no reports of injuries. Investigators determined that the fire was an accident.

Workers have now moved on to damage assessment. Fire crews helped clear smoke from the building and a contractor was brought in to assist with water removal. An estimate of the damages has not yet been released.

Robert Pike is a CPA with offices in the building. He said that the timing of the fire could not be worse, as the last weeks of March and start of April are busy days for tax preparers. Delays from the incident could put financial workers behind in their work.

Office Building, Other Business

Louisville, KY – Sprinklers help minimize damage in fire at GE facility

No one was injured in a fire at GE Appliances, located in the 4000 block of Buechel Bank Road. The fire started at 8 p.m. Firefighters said the sprinkler system activated. The fire was in the Global Customer Center, it’s also known as Building 35, and was contained in 25 minutes. The Okolona fire chief said no production was impacted and damage was in a small area of the GE Appliance Park building.

The Global Customer Center houses research and technology and also serves as a place for big GE customers to view the latest appliances in a showroom. Four fire departments responded to the fire. They include: Okolona, Buechel, Camp Taylor and Highview.

Office Building, Other Business

North Hollywood, CA – Fire on ninth floor of high-rise office building extinguished by sprinkler system

A small fire on the ninth floor of an office building in the North Hollywood area last Wednesday was quickly extinguished by sprinklers,  authorities said.  The fire in the 4600 block of Lankershim Boulevard was reported about 7:30 a.m. and was already out when firefighters arrived, said Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. No injuries were reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Yuma, AZ – Arson fire at office building mostly extinguished by sprinkler system

A fire at a building Thursday afternoon that had been mostly extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system was determined to have been intentionally set. According to Yuma Fire Department spokesman Mike Erfert, shortly after 1:00 p.m., smoke was reported coming from an office in the Mission Valley Plaza, located at 3970 West 24th Street. Once on scene, firefighters found light smoke coming from a vacant office space inside the building.

 Erfert said the building’s fire sprinkler system, which had been exposed to the heat, had activated, containing and mostly extinguishing the fire by the time firefighters had arrived. Erfert said firefighters ensured the fire was out and had not spread to adjoining areas of the building.

Sgt. Leanne Worthen, of the Yuma Police Department, said because the fire appeared to have been in intentionally set, detectives were called to scene, and are investigating the fire as an arson. Given this was the fourth fire in as many days, Erfert wanted to stress the importance of fire sprinkler systems, saying they can keep fires from spreading and can also extinguish them.

Fire spreads quickly and can double in size every minute. Even small fires can cause significant damage to property and endanger those nearby. Contrary to many Hollywood portrayals, only sprinkler heads directly exposed to the heat activate, not those in the rest of the room, building, or complex.