Category Archives: Other Business

Other Business, Place of Worship

Seattle, WA – Church fire during worship service controlled by sprinkler system

As reported on West Seattle Blog (Statement from Rev. Leah Atkinson Bilinski to Fauntleroy Church congregation):

This morning, during our worship service, we experienced a small fire in our fourth floor library. The fire was accidentally caused by a child (who was not physically harmed, but who is quite emotionally upset). The sprinkler system worked as it should, and the fire was contained to a very small area within the library.

Water did soak walls and flooring on the fourth floor outside the library, office floor below (outside of offices), lobby, and one bathroom in the narthex as it came through the ceiling.

A big thank you to all of our volunteers who jumped right to work cleaning up what water we could before the professionals arrived this afternoon. Bless you, bless you, bless you!

Our annual meeting will be rescheduled and we will be in touch with that new date within the next few days. If pieces of Music Sunday are able to rescheduled, we’ll also let you know that.

The fire was small, and we are a strong, healthy church. All will be well!

As we rejoice in that wellness, let us remember to pray today for those who are not well, notably those involved in the horribly tragic loss of life in Orlando. Let us pray for those lost, their families, LGBTQ families everywhere and a world in which so much hate still exists and is allowed to fester.

And to those prayers, I ask a smaller, but special additional prayer — for one very scared child and her family today, who need to know us as their church family. Love is so powerful, and I thank God for a church that loves well and adds love to a world in such desperate need of it.

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Other Business, Place of Worship

South Whitehall, PA – Fire at synagogue controlled by sprinkler system

Emergency crews responded to a small fire at Temple Beth El in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County Sunday afternoon. The fire was reported at the synagogue – located in the 1300 block of Springhouse Road – around 7:30 a.m., according to county officials.

Crews on scene say the fire broke out in the rear of the building and was contained to a small maintenance room, which suffered smoke damage and minor water damage. Luckily, officials say the building’s sprinkler system was functioning properly and kept the fire from spreading throughout the rest of the building.

The fire did go to a second alarm, but only due to the size of the structure and the temperature outside. No one was inside the synagogue when the flames broke out, and no injuries were reported. Investigators are still looking into what may have sparked this fire.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Sandusky, OH – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in containing fire to building’s elevator shaft

Roofers inadvertently sparked a small fire inside the Feick Contractor Building just after 9:15 a.m. last Wednesday.  Sandusky firefighters responded to Hancock and East Water streets, near Civista Bank’s downtown branch, where they saw white smoke billowing from an elevator shaft.

A ladder truck lifted several firefighters atop the structure’s roof, where they extinguished the fire. With help from an automated sprinkler system, activating before firefighters arrived, first responders quickly neutralized the situation.

“The fire started when (the roofers) were trying to attach some rubber flashing around the roof so it would adhere to glue,” Sandusky fire Chief Dave Degnan said. “We’re investigating it right now, but we’re leaning toward roofers just heating up the wood and starting the fire.”

The fire didn’t spread beyond the elevator shaft. People residing in an adjacent apartment, meanwhile, shouldn’t fret about their living situation, Degnan said.  “I don’t believe anyone is going to be displaced,” Degnan said.  Additionally, it doesn’t appear anyone sustained any injuries as a result of the fire.

Office Building, Other Business

Rocky Mount, NC – Sprinklers limit damage to room of origin in office building blaze

No one was injured when a fire broke out Tuesday night at a local office building on the 1400 block of Atlantic Avenue.

Rocky Mount firefighters responded around 5:15 p.m. to an alarm call at the Jay Group building where employees had already evacuated. An automatic sprinkler system had activated in the office where the fire started and kept it in check until crews got to scene and extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes of being dispatched.

“Kudos to the automatic sprinkler system” said Jamie Vaughn, division chief of operations for Rocky Mount Fire Department. “It really saved this property and the lives of those people.”

It is unclear how many employees were in the building when the fire started, but the damage was limited to the room of origin. Fire investigators are working with Rocky Mount police to determine the cause of the fire, which is still under investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 977-1111 or crimestoppers@rockymountnc.gov. Text a tip to police at 274637 by beginning messages with RMPOL to direct the tip to the Rocky Mount Police Department and type up to 155 characters about the information.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Metropolis, IL – Overnight fire at uniform business controlled with help from sprinkler system

The Illinois State Fire Marshal is looking for the cause of an overnight fire at a Metropolis business.  The fire alarm system at Aramark Uniform Services alerted firefighters around 2:00 a.m. to a fire at the business located at 5317 Industrial Park Drive in Metropolis. 

Firefighters say there was heavy smoke when they arrived on the scene, but no flames were showing.  The business’ sprinkler did go off before firefighters arrived.

The Metropolis Fire Department called for manpower help from Massac County and a mobile ventilation air unit to help fight the fire.  Crews were able to knock down the flames quickly, and contain the fire to one area of the building.  Firefighters say they don’t believe anyone was in the building when the fire broke out, and no one was hurt.

Office Building, Other Business

Boise, ID – Sprinkler system extinguishes fire in downtown commercial building

Boise Fire says a small fire that broke out at the Charles Schwab building has been ruled accidental. Firefighters were called to the building, near 9th and Main Streets, just after 6:30 p.m. last Sunday.

While they found smoke inside, crews say the building’s sprinkler system activated and extinguished the fire. A Boise Fire spokeswoman says there was moderate damage to the building.

On Monday, Boise Fire says an employee from the building had taken laundry home to wash. After it was clean, he placed the warm laundry in a crate and brought it back to the business. The heat, mixed with cooking oil remnants, sparked the fire, Boise Fire says.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Kent, WA – Sprinkler system protects building from fire caused by spontaneous combustion

2 Comments

A business’s sprinkler system did exactly what it was designed to do when it contained a small fire in the 18600 block of 72 Avenue South on Tuesday, the Kent Regional Fire Authority reported.

No one was in the business at the time of the fire, though firefighters checked neighboring businesses as a precaution.

The system, which also sent a signal of a possible fire to the alarm company that monitored it, activated at 5:30 a.m. The closest emergency unit to the call was a fire engine from Tukwila. When they arrived, they found water coming from inside the large two-story, concrete tilt-up building. Because they knew that a sprinkler head had activated, they upgraded the incident to a “commercial fire,” which brought a full fire response.

Once additional firefighters from the Kent RFA and Renton RFA were able to get inside the building they found it filled with smoke, which made locating the fire more difficult. Once they found the seat of the fire, they were able to extinguish it quickly and shut down the sprinkler system to reduce additional water damage.

A fire investigator determined that there were two locations at the business where fire started. One was inside, which activated the sprinkler system, and one was on an exterior loading dock.

The cause of the fire was spontaneous combustion, after paper and filtering material, which were both saturated with paint, were placed in containers, fire officials said. Certain materials, when in a limited space, can self-generate heat until they catch fire. Paints, oils and compost are common causes of this type of combustion.

The fire is considered accidental.

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Irvine, CA – Fire at uniform rental business contained by sprinkler system

A fire damaged Irvine business Prudential Overall Supply Saturday night, Orange County Fire Authority Captain Carlos Huerta said. Firefighters responded to the blaze on Aston Avenue at 7:09 p.m.

“Fortunately, the building had a sprinkler system that kept the fire in check,” Huerta said. “The fire was under control within 30 minutes.” Damage to the one-story building was minimal, Huerta said. “It was a contents fire that was contained to the rear of the structure,” he said.

Prudential Overall Supply provides uniform rentals to employers, according to its website. Huerta said there were no injuries, but he did not know if the building was vacant at the time the fire started.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.