A senior living facility in Cocoa suffered a fire in its second story on Saturday.
The fire occurred on the 1000 block of Clearlake Road in Cocoa, according to the American Red Cross.
Authorities said a sprinkler system put out the fire, but there was water damage and 30 people were displaced.
The Red Cross said no temporary shelter was needed, but that cards were handed out for use of a hotel night if people needed it.
Fire sprinklers extinguished a fire at a Manhattan retirement home Saturday afternoon.
The Manhattan Fire Department says crews were dispatched at 1:03 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 26, to Meadowlark Retirement Community at 2221 Meadowlark Road for a report of a fire alarm with a smell of smoke.
Upon arrival, crews found a two-story residential building that had a dryer fire in the basement.
Manhattan Fire says the fire was controlled by the fire sprinkler system and crews finished the blaze off.
The fire cause has been noted as accidental due to overheating of material in the dryer.
No injuries were reported and all residents are able to remain in the building.
MFD says a total of 16 firefighters responded on 4 fire apparatuses with the last units clearing at around 3:00 p.m.
The loss is estimated at $8,000 to contents and $4,000 to the structure.
Manhattan Fire says the owner is listed as Manhattan Retirement Foundation Inc. of the same address.
Please contact Deputy Chief Ryan Almes, Manhattan Fire Department, at 785-587-4508 with any questions.
The fire took place on a stove at the home on Northwest 12th Street near North Harvey Avenue.
As the sprinklers took out the fire, fire officials said the home suffered extensive floor damage to the bottom floor of the multi-story complex.
Fire crews needed help removing residents from the building. Embark sent a bus to the home so residents had a place to sit as firefighters entered the structure.
One person was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation due to possible smoke inhalation.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department said the damage displaced living spaces for two of the home’s residents.
A heating and ventilation system is suspected of causing the fire. “Fortunately, the attic space is fully sprinklered and a single sprinkler head contained the fire until fire crews arrived on the scene,” said the release.
All the physical, occupational and speech therapy patients living at the center and staff members were able to remain sheltered in the building, though firefighters helped move 12 patients to different rooms. Michael pointed out that sprinklers reduce fire-related deaths by 87% and injuries by 27%, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
There were no life-threatening injuries, but the people transported had been subject to smoke inhalation, said Danville-Boyle County Emergency Management Director Mike Wilder. He said all the residents were evacuated with no major issues.
Danville Fire Department Chief Doug Simpson said the dispatch to a structural fire at 203 Bruce Court, the address of Landmark, came at 9:05 a.m. Sunday morning. A sprinkler in one of the back wings had gone off. “But the sprinkler system did do its job and knocked the fire down,” Simpson said. “There was just little flames when we got there, but most of the issues were dealing with smoke.”
He said the seven individuals transported were taken to the hospital via Emergency Management Services, and the fire department also received help from the Boyle County Fire Department, “Which we really appreciated.”
“All the first responders did a great job, worked as a team and the Landmark staff did a great job as well evacuating the residents,” Simpson said.
He said there was no structural damage, but there was a lot of smoke, and some damage was done to the origin of the fire area.
Wilder said when the call was first dispatched, he “cringed” because “It’s one of the horrors we have in the first responder business, something like that occurring,” like a fire at a nursing home, since it’s “such a task” to get everyone evacuated.
“It took me a little while to get myself together,” he said.
Luckily, though, everyone was evacuated safely, and he wanted to note that the there was also mutual aid from Garrard and Lincoln counties — one rescue unit from Garrard County and one from Lincoln County to help evacuate residents.
The fire department was notified of a sprinkler activation and water-flow alarm at the building in the 1400 block of Redwood Road, according to Napa Fire spokesperson Matt Colburn. After the first engine company at the scene saw smoke in a hallway, other firefighters were called to the building, Colburn said.
Sprinklers doused the fire inside an apartment, but about 10 other units had to be vacated due to the resulting flow of water, according to Colburn, who said firefighters stayed for more than four hours to help clear out the water. No injuries were reported.
The cause remains under investigation.
The fire was contained in the apartment of origin due to the activation of the fire sprinkler system, the department stated. Dispatch was alerted by the alarm company of a ‘water flow’ alarm at 9:36 a.m. Sunday. The first unit arrived three minutes later. Frisco Fire responded with two engines, one ladder truck, and one battalion chief on the initial assignment due to it being an alarm investigation in a specialty risk structure, the department stated.
During the investigation by the first arriving unit, smoke was found in the building.
Additional units were requested as a working fire was declared. The fire, located in an apartment on the second floor, was kept small and not allowed to grow as rapidly due to the fire sprinklers that had activated when the fire began, the department stated. A total of 15 units and 35 personnel were dispatched to the fire. Eight units and 22 personnel were used to help mitigate the incident.
No civilian or firefighter injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Utilities to the apartments damaged by fire or water have been shut off. Watermere a Frisco is a four-story independent senior living community.
No tenants were hurt or displaced as city firefighters quickly put out both blazes.
Both of those fires took place at the 83-unit Charles T. McQueeney Towers Apartments at 358 Orange St. downtown. The public housing authority property is home to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. It also hosts on its groundfloor the headquarters of the Housing Authority of New Haven.
The first fire took place at around 12:20 p.m. on Saturday. The second took place at around 7:58 p.m. on Tuesday. Both occurred on the high-rise’s 10th floor.
Here’s what happened, according to city Fire Chief John Alston.
On Saturday, he said, the fire took place in a non-residential office space on the 10th floor.
The fire was consistent with an overloaded electrical outlet and extension cord, he said. The extension cord was not Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certified.
“It overheated and caused a fire in that area,” Alston said.
Because that 10th-floor office space was empty at the time, Alston said, “the fire burned undetected until it activated the sprinkler system and the alarm system.”
Firefighters contained the blaze, he said, but there was “a lot of water damage” due to the activation of the sprinklers. A lot of the water got into the building’s elevator shaft, he said, leading to the elevator being taken out of service for a few hours.
Thanks to the hard work of an elevator tech and firefighters who “dewatered” and dried the elevator shaft and checked all of the apartments below the fire, the elevator was brought back online within a few hours and no tenants were displaced. (McQueeney Towers has two elevators but, at the time of the fire on Saturday, one elevator was already out of service and awaiting repairs.)
The Tuesday evening fire at McQueeney also took place on the building’s 10th floor, Alston said.
This time, the blaze occurred on a residential apartment’s outdoor balcony.
“A large amount of materials were burned,” he said. “Fortunately, because it was outside, the fire was contained to the outside.”
There was “minor water intrusion” into the unit, he said. Again, no injuries, and no displacements.
This second fire is still under investigation, Alston said. It appears to have taken place in a large, plastic storage container on the outdoor balcony. Firefighters did not find any grill on the balcony, he said.
While the department is not yet sure whether the fire was intentional or accidental, Alston said, the cause appears to be “by human hand.”
Does the fire department think these two 10th-floor fires were related?
“At this time, it’s inconclusive” whether or not they are related, he said.
While the department is confident that the “ignition source” of Saturday’s fire was electrical, he said, the department is still investigating what exactly was the ignition source of Tuesday’s balcony blaze.
How would he describe city firefighter responses to both fires?
“In both instances, tremendous responses,” he said. “Quick response. Quick knock down [of both fires]. I’m very proud.”
Asked for comment on both McQueeney fires, Housing Authority of New Haven Interim Director Shenae Draughn told the Independent: “The fire yesterday was contained to a balcony and was extinguished quickly. The fire on Saturday activated our sprinkler system that extinguished the fire. Both are under investigation.
“Once the investigation is completed, we’ll implement mitigating procedures. Our team, police and fire did an exceptional job with ensuring resident’s safety and that their subsequent needs were taken care of.”
No one was injured when a dumpster caught fire at a senior living center Monday afternoon.
Fire officials said a dumpster caught fire at Floyd Place Senior Living in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.
A neighbor made the 9-1-1 call and pulled the dumpster away from the building.
Before fire crews could arrive, officials said police put the dumpster fire out.
However, the fire damaged part of the building’s siding.
“We had the sprinkler system going off helping extinguish the fire, we did a secondary search making sure everyone was out of the building. They’ll have the fire sprinkler company coming up to reset their fire sprinklers. It was a great case they maintained their fire protection systems well. And the fire sprinkler system saved their building,” said fire chief Anthony Gaul.
As a precuation, resident were evacuated. They were allowed back inside after fire crews checked out the damage.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fire officials say the fire started Sunday night in the laundry room and was contained to only that room.
After interviews with the building owner, officials say he started a gas fired clothes dryer and 15 minutes later, the fire alarm went off.
Crews are now working on removing residual smoke from the building.
No one was injured during the fire.
Officials say if the building didn’t have functioning fire sprinkler and fire alarms systems, it could have been a different outcome.
According to the facility, residents are staying at the Comfort Inn and will be back as soon as it is deemed safe.
