Crews responded to a fire Thursday morning at The Palms Theatres & IMAX in Waukee.
Fire chief Clint Robinson told KCCI towels caught on fire in a mechanical room around 8 a.m. and triggered sprinklers at the complex, located at 200 NE Westgate Dr.
An employee on the scene said they don’t believe the fire caused any structural damage, but there is some smoke and water damage. They expected to reopen Thursday afternoon.
A business has some damage after an overnight fire in Lexington.
Flames broke out after 11 p.m. at the Aramark building on Versailles Road.
Crews arrived quickly and crawled under the smoke to put out the flames.
District Fire Chief Brian Dawson says the fire started in some clothing bins inside the building.
“The sprinkler heads in the building kept the fire in check, but it didn’t completely put the fire out,” Dawson said. “We had about 10 units responding to the fire and the Jonas Brothers’ concert slowed one of them down, but they were still on scene within five minutes of the initial fire.”
Dawson says the fire damaged some items in the building, but the structure is sound and no one was hurt.
One person was in the building when the fire started.
Investigators are still determining the origin and cause.
The fire started in one of the HVAC units in the basement of the facility at 7000 West Grandbridge Boulevard, prompting an evacuation of the center on September 22, 2023.
The building was evacuated, and firefighters entered the building to find the rapid activation of the sprinkler system confined the fire to the unit.
Crews shut down the sprinkler system to minimize water damage and the facility was able to reopen a short time after the incident.
Fire Chief Michael says the incident is an excellent example of the important role sprinklers play in both the protection of life and property.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, “From 2015 to 2019, sprinklers operated in 92 percent of fires large enough to activate sprinklers and were effective at controlling the fire in 96 percent of the incidents in which they operated.”
Firefighters responded to the Masonic Lodge at 551 W. 21st Street on a fire alarm activation at 2:11 a.m.
When CFD personnel arrived on scene, they found a fire on the left front exterior of the building which was quickly extinguished. The front doors were also open and as crews made entry, they found another small fire inside the structure which had activated the sprinkler system. The sprinklers effectively extinguished the interior fire.
Along with fire and water damage, there was also damage to the building from vandalism.
There is an active and ongoing investigation into what happened at this location.
The department responded at 3:20 p.m. to the store at 257 N. Weber Road, and found a fire in a display shelving unit inside the store.
The department said the sprinkler system had contained the fire, and firefighters were able to extinguish flames quickly. Crews began to salvage and conserve the unaffected property inside the building, and worked to clear the smoke from the building and neighboring units.
Members of the Bolingbrook Fire Department, trained in fire investigations, began to survey the scene, the department said. At this time, the incident is still under investigation.
Authorities are investigating a fire at a business in Owatonna.
It happened just before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Nelson Decorating Center, located at 121 Oakdale Street SW.
According to the Owatonna Fire Department (OFD), the sprinkler system at the business controlled the blaze until crews arrived to put out the remaining flames.
Firefighters stayed on scene for roughly two hours to help ventilate the building.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Damages are estimated at $350,000.
The neighboring business, Sherwin Williams, had minor smoke and water damage.
OFD said no one was hurt.
“Having a working sprinkler system helped prevent more extensive damage to the business,” said Ed Hoffman, the Owatonna Fire Chief. “This is a great reminder for other businesses that have sprinkler and fire alarm systems to have them inspected regularly to ensure they are working properly.”
The Owatonna Police Department and the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office assisted OFD at the scene.
Firefighters responded to the 77700 block of Flora Road, near Las Montanas Road, around 8:10 p.m. to a report regarding light smoke coming from a one-story commercial building, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
Firefighters discovered two golf carts fully engulfed in flames as they approached the inside of the building.
The building’s sprinkler system assisted in holding back the fire.
The fire was contained around 8:54 p.m. Firefighters remained on the scene for clean-up and to ensure all hot spots were extinguished.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
After GFFR arrived on scene, firefighters noticed smoke coming from the roof of the building.
Firefighters entered the building through a door on the East side of the building and were met with heavy smoke and no visibility.
When entry was made into the building, firefighters encountered two males in the building who were National Laundry employees attempting to put the fire out.
The employees had been notified of the alarm activation by the fire alarm monitoring company.
Both employees were escorted out of the building and assessed by GFES, but both employees refused any further medical care on completion of the medical assessment.
After firefighters reentered the building, they discovered the fire was being held in check by the building’s sprinkler system.
Even with the sprinkler system keeping the fire in check, firefighters did have a tough time getting the fire knocked down, but they were able to get it fully under control.
The cause of the fire has been determined to be the spontaneous combustion of mop heads. There are numerous fires that have been documented as being caused by the spontaneous combustion of mop heads at laundry facilities, as noted in Spontaneous Ignition Fires in Laundries by Jim Everitt.
Fire damage in National Laundry was limited by the presence of the fire sprinkler system. Without this system in place, the entire complex could have been lost.
As of now, total damages to National Laundry have not been determined, and they are working to get the business reopened.
At around 8:30 p.m., the 2302 Bridge Rd. facility was evacuated due to a small fire in one of the board rooms.
“We believe there were items placed on top of a charging station that kind of smothered and caused something to overheat creating a small fire,” said Oakville Fire Chief Paul Boissonneault.
“The fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system and then our crews removed the remanent components when they arrived.”
The fire chief said firefighters also ventilated the building to get rid of the smell of burnt plastic.
The community centre was able to open its doors on Tuesday as per usual.
Damage to the boardroom is said to be minimal.
“The sprinklers certainly did their job,” said Boissonneault.
