Category Archives: Other / Not Specified

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Sparks, NV – Sprinkler system puts out fire in HAZMAT situation; No injuries reported

The Sparks Fire Department was dispatched to an activated fire alarm at 230 Coney Island Dr. just before 6 a.m. on Monday.

When authorities arrived on scene, they found water flowing out from under a roll-up door. 

Upon investigation, fire crews observed a light haze in the building caused by a small fire near a Potassium Hydroxide drum. The fire was put out by the building sprinkler system.

Crews decided to back out and call for the Regional Hazardous Material Team.

Regional Hazardous Material Team members from the Reno and Sparks fire departments both responded to the scene.

Crews started the evacuation process of all businesses located nearby and secured the scene for one block to the east and west of Coney Island Dr.

A HAZMAT team remains on scene accessing the incident.

A fire investigator is also on scene, but cannot make access to assess the cause yet.

Coney Island Dr. has reopened.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Basalt, CO – Sprinkler system douses dumpster fire at mixed-use building

A built-in fire sprinkler system performed exactly as designed Tuesday evening in a mixed residential-commercial building at Willits Town Center, Basalt Deputy Fire Chief Pete Bradshaw said.

A fire ignited shortly after 6 p.m. in an isolated room with a trash dumpster and compactor. Black smoke was billowing out when firefighters arrived, but the sprinkler system was activated before they swung into action. The smoke turned white and water flowed from the room.

“The sprinkler pretty much did its job perfectly,” Bradshaw said.The room is built so that it would take about two hours before the fire could burn through the sheetrock and spread, Bradshaw said.

The residents and customers of the restaurants and shops in the Triangle Park Lofts building had to evacuate for nearly 30 minutes as fire alarms rang out. The building is home to popular restaurants such as Smoke and El Korita.

Bradshaw said 17 firefighters responded, including 12 volunteers, with one engine and one ladder truck.

Fire officers didn’t poke around the garbage to determine the cause. It wouldn’t have been easy to determine since the fire burned for a short time and the pile was thoroughly doused, Bradshaw said.

“It’s the second time we had a fire in that dumpster,” he said, recalling that the first incident was a couple of years ago.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Ventura, CA – Sprinkler system holds flames in check after vehicle crashes into building and starts fire

Rescuers responded to a building that caught fire in Ventura early Friday after a vehicle crashed into it.

Firefighters received a report at 1:11 a.m. that a truck had slammed into and gone inside a two-story building in the 5700 block of Moon Drive, just north of Highway 101 and about a block west of South Victoria Avenue. The vehicle and the building both apparently caught fire.

Crews at the scene discovered one victim and requested an ambulance.

One man was taken to a local trauma center at 1:35 a.m. for injuries, just as the vehicle fire was reported knocked down. The structure fire was being held in check by a sprinkler system, firefighters said.

Officials said the fire was controlled within 23 minutes of firefighters arrival and put out an hour later.

Two other victims apparently left the scene, authorities reported to dispatchers.

In addition to Ventura City Fire, firefighters from Ventura County, Oxnard and Santa Paula fire departments as well as Ventura police also responded.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Huntington, WV – Arena fire controlled with help from sprinkler system; No injuries and no events canceled

Firefighters responded to a fire Friday morning at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington. Crews were able to quickly put out the fire, which started in an administrative office. The sprinkler system helped in the fire.  About 15 to 20 employees were in the building at the time.  No one was reported hurt in the incident.  Events at the arena will continue as normal.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Armstrong, BC, Canada – Sprinkler system douses fire; Assist firefighters in controlling fire in commercial building

There was very little sleep for Armstrong-Spallumcheen firefighters. The volunteer firefighters were first called to a blaze in downtown Armstrong Wednesday night and then to a fire at a Spallumcheen farm early Thursday morning.  “Our crew did a terrific job,” said Ian Cummings, fire chief.  The first call came in at 10:21 p.m. Wednesday at the Rose Valley Square on Pleasant Valley Road in Armstrong.  “The sprinkler was activated and there was smoke in the building,” said Cummings.   It’s believed spontaneous combustion caught some oily rags on fire, but the sprinkler was able to douse the flames.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Park Ridge, IL – Fire in trash chute at parking garage extinguished by sprinkler system

(No Media Coverage – Fire Department Reported) On February 12, 2017 at 5:09 p.m. the Park Ridge Fire Department was dispatched to 50 N. Northwest Highway for an activated fire alarm. Crews arrived on the scene within four (4) minutes and determined there was a possible fire in the trash room located in the parking garage.  Upon entering the trash room, there was water flowing from 4 sprinkler heads inside the trash chute.  These heads activated due to a fire of undetermined cause in the dumpster itself.  The fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system saving what could have been a large fire loss.  Crews checked for fire extension and damage.  There was minimal damage to the building from water and smoke.  No injuries were reported and all building fire protection systems were placed back in service that night.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Spokane, WA – Security video shows sprinkler system tackling fire at commercial building

A video captures the start of a commercial fire at downtown Spokane business and highlights the importance of having a working sprinkler system. 

It is fortunate that a security camera was positioned in such a way to capture the entire life cycle of this fire. It does not happen very often that fire departments get video that shows how a fire might start, how it progresses, and how it can be controlled in a true, unsupervised everyday environment.

“This video shows how something that starts out small can quickly escalate without the proper fire suppression systems in place,” says City of Spokane Fire Marshal Michael Miller. “If not for the working sprinkler, this fire could have been much worse. This is another example of why we stress the importance of installing and properly maintaining automatic fire suppression and detection systems.”

The video captures a fire that started on January 28, 2016 in the Symons Building (15 S. Howard St.), a four story commercial building. The first indication of a problem can be seen when there is a brief flicker from a light fixture that is located in a main floor storage room. Hot material begins to drip from the fixture to the floor level where it ignited some plastic and consequently moved into the adjacent wood wall. The sprinkler head activated and helped confine the fire to a small area. Fire crews also credit the business for having a clean and orderly storeroom which helped in not providing a lot of fuel to the fire in its earliest stage. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within 20 minutes. No injuries were reported. 

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Racine, WI – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire in commercial building; no injuries reported

About $3,000 damage resulted from a fire Tuesday morning at a commercial building in the Uptown area.

The fire, which was reported at about 9:15 a.m., originated on the second floor of the building at 1232 Washington Ave. on pallets holding folded cardboard, Racine Fire Department Lt. Mike Moss said.

A sprinkler system put out the fire, which produced a lot of smoke because of plastics and other materials involved, Moss said.

The building is used for storage by HFI Fluid Power Products, 1210 Washington Ave., Moss said.

The area was not occupied at the time of the fire and nearby workers were able to exit unharmed. No injuries were reported.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Yuma, AZ – Fire in snake habitat at local business is put out by sprinkler system

The Yuma Fire Department said a business fire may have originated from a large snake habitat where a four-foot long ball python died. Officials said on Sunday just before 1:30 p.m., a passerby reported seeing water coming from a building at 4221 East 30th Place occupied by SunRay Electric. Yuma Fire Department personnel arrived to find that there had been a fire inside that had been extinguished by the building’s fire suppression sprinkler system. Firefighters ensured the fire was out and shut down the water flow to the system.  The fire was found to have originated in a large snake habitat and the cause is under investigation. It was stopped from spreading beyond the habitat and extinguished by the fire sprinkler system. A four-foot long ball python died in the fire. The fire damage was limited to the area of the habitat. There were no employees at the business at the time of the fire.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

St. Cloud, MN – Sprinkler system halts fire at body shop; fire started in painting booth

A fire caused around $100,000 worth of damage to a St. Cloud body shop.

The fire department says an alarm alerted them to St. Cloud Collision Center, 1801 8th Street South, near the Coborn’s on Cooper Aveune South, on Thursday at 7:49 p.m.

When firefighters got on the scene they found the sprinkler system had almost extinguished the fire and saved the building.

Officials say the fire started in the drying unit of a painting booth. The booth, a car, and a portion of the roof were damaged.

No one was in the building at the time of the fire.The fire remains under investigation. It took firefighters about two hours to clear the scene.