Category Archives: Residential

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Keystone, CO – Single sprinkler head keeps condo fire from spreading

An apparent accidental fire Saturday evening caused significant damage in the Mill Creek condominiums in Keystone, but a sprinkler head kept it from spreading, and no one was injured.

Some 15 firefighters from Lake Dillon Fire responded to an alarm triggered by the sprinkler system about 7:15 p.m., and they were assisted by a crew from Red, White & Blue Fire of Breckenridge in extinguishing the fire. They were supported by two volunteers from the Lake Dillon Fire Corps.

The fire caused significant damage to two units and left two others with smoke and water damage. Keystone Resorts found alternative lodging for the people staying at the six-unit building at 56 River Run Road.

The fire apparently broke out in the concealed space between the third and fourth floors, and the initial focus of the investigation is on electrical wiring.

“Fortunately, everything worked as it should: A single sprinkler head kept the fire from spreading, and the alarm alerted the occupants. And, most importantly, the occupants heeded the alarm and evacuated the building immediately,” said Lake Dillon Fire Chief Jeff Berino.

A preliminary estimate of the total damage is between $400,000 and $500,000.

Apartment Building, Residential

Brockton, MA – Sprinkler credited with halting another fire in Brockton apartment building

In 2003, just weeks before Christmas, a fire at an apartment building on Falmouth Avenue in Brockton displaced all 20 people living inside.

Three months later, in March 2004, more than 40 firefighters returned to the same building, at 33 Falmouth Ave., for a 3-alarm blaze that saw flames shooting 15 feet above the roof. No one was in the building at the time but the property was badly damaged.

The building was eventually rehabilitated, and on Wednesday a fire started in a clothing bin inside an apartment of the 16-unit property.

One major addition during the rehabilitation of the building, a sprinkler system, is what firefighters said prevented what could have been a similar scenario to what happened in 2004.

When firefighters arrived they doused the flames and cleared the building of smoke.

A neighbor in the apartment next-door, who is wheelchair-bound, was brought outside by firefighters and he was taken to the hospital to be evaluated as a precaution, Nardelli said.

There were no injuries and no residents were displaced, Nardelli said.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by Brockton police and fire investigators and according to the police log, a complaint has been filed against someone. The details of the charges and the identity of the person was not immediately available Thursday afternoon.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Zelienople, PA – Sprinklers douse fire at retirement center; No injuries

An apartment building sprinkler system doused an electrical fire early Wednesday morning before it spread. 

Chief Scott Garing of the Harmony Fire District said the fire ignited in apartment 234 in the Blue Spruce neighborhood of the Passavant Retirement Community on Burgess Drive. 

“It was a power supply for an electrical device,” Garing said.  He said the female occupant, whose name was unavailable, was sleeping in the living room when the fire started in the bedroom. After responding to the 12:36 a.m. 911 call, firefighters checked the attic and walls to ensure all the flames were extinguished. 

Garing credited the building staff for evacuating roughly 50 residents from their apartments to a central room behind fire doors in the building. He said when the safety of occupants already is addressed, crews can immediately focus on fire suppression. 

Garing said the apartment and one below it sustained water damage. The Adams Area, Cranberry Township and Evans City volunteer fire departments assisted the Harmony Fire District. The Harmony and Cranberry Township ambulance services also responded. 

Fire crews cleared the scene at 2:25 a.m. 

Residential, Single Family Home

Bullhead City, AZ – Garage fire contained by residential sprinkler system

A Katherine Heights garage fire late Monday night was contained by a sprinkler system, the Bullhead City Fire Department said Tuesday. 

The alarm came in at about 10:40 p.m., department spokeswoman Lorrae Viles said. Crews were called to an address on Power Line Road. Viles said they found water flowing out of the garage, but no active fire.

Battalion Chief Craig Stephenson reported that it appeared that the fire had started in a small plastic trash can next to an old sofa.

The residence was equipped with an overhead sprinkler system that was activated and extinguished the fire. If the system had not been in place, Viles said, the blaze could have gotten out of control and caused considerable damage.

Apartment Building, Residential

Miami, OK – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling apartment fire; No injuries

An early Sunday morning fire at the Miami Towers building managed by the Miami Housing Authority at 41 North Main in Miami could have been devastating. However, thanks to quick thinking and fast response, what could have been tragic ended with no injuries and only minor smoke and water damages.  Many residents were evacuated from the 75 unit, seven-story building as a precaution. The apartments in the building are leased to residents meeting HUD income limits with age requirements of 62 years of age and or with a disability.

“It was quickly averted,” Miami Housing Authority Executive Director Mark McDowell said. “It started in a mattress and after they found it the fire department removed it.” Some water damages did occur from efforts to douse the flames, but McDowell said the building maintenance crew would be able to make repairs.

“We have good maintenance men who will be able to repair the building. Water damage was very minimal and we’re still working on that. We had some dry wall damage and of course some ceiling damage below,” he said. “There were no injuries to speak of, really. Some residents may have coughed because of the smoke, but it was pretty much uneventful. It could have been a bad thing. We have all of our evacuation routes posted more than once on each floor. We go through evacuation routes at move in.”

Firefighters received a dispatch call to the Miami Towers at 7:02 a.m. regarding a fire on the seventh floor and arrived on scene at 7:05 a.m. Two units and two engines arrived and the firemen took the stairs and found smoke in the hallway of the sixth floor. According to the Miami Fire Department’s incident report, the fire started on the sixth floor in apartment 601 by an occupant who fell asleep while smoking, starting the fire.

“A sprinkler system was activated and we found a mattress on fire,” Miami Fire Captain James G. Turner wrote in the report.

Miami firefighters removed the mattress and took it downstairs, and opened several windows to ventilate the building. Firefighters placed a sprinkler wedge in the sprinkler discharge to stop the water flow to avoid and mitigate further damages.

“They put a wooden wedge to stop the water flow. Those things do put out a lot of water,” Miami Fire Chief Robert Wright said. “They were able to get there quick and able to stop it quick. It was a quick response from our guys at the station, and with the building being sprinkled, they did a great job. Also, Larry, the maintenance man up there, pulled the pull station to set off the alarm which rings straight to a monitoring company to 911 dispatch”

Patrons of Alene’s Restaurant just sitting down to eat also had to forego breakfast while the firefighters worked.

The building currently allows smoking inside residents’ apartments but new policies at state, federal and local levels may soon change to ban smoking to outside or designated areas for safety and health concerns.

“The resident wasn’t breaking any rules other than she probably shouldn’t have been smoking in bed,” McDowell said. “That’s just not something you should be doing.”

McDowell received several calls from the monitoring service notifying him of the fire alarm. The alarm system also sounded throughout the building and firefighters went apartment to apartment to offer assistance with evacuation, and residents warned each other, according to McDowell.

“Some slept through it,” he said. “There’s a loud alarm that goes off, so I’m hoping that maybe that will make a few of them aware if they need an additional type of alarm. I can’t go ask under ADA regulation. Some of the residents have buddies and will check on each other and go door to door.” Firefighters train specifically for such events, according to Wright.

“We lay out hose and practice in training. For a multi-story residential building with assisted living, those are one of the hardest responses to determine where it’s at and what it is, and they did a great job,” Wright said. “And it’s good that those types of buildings have to have sprinkler systems because that catches it in the incipient phase and it helps everybody.”

McDowell is very appreciative of the Miami firefighters and very grateful no one was injured.

“These firefighters are top notch,” he said. “The residents were out of their apartment for just as short as time as possible. Overall it was handled very well and I’m just glad no one was seriously hurt because it could have been disastrous.”

Apartment Building, Residential

San Antonio, TX – Sprinkler system helps extinguish fire at downtown luxury apartment building

About 55 firefighting units worked to put out a three-alarm fire Saturday at the Agave Apartments complex in downtown San Antonio. The San Antonio Fire Department said the blaze appeared to have started about 5:45 p.m. in a unit on the fifth floor of Building 6. Smoke billowed out of the back of the apartments at Cesar Chavez and South St. Mary’s Street. No residents or firefighters were injured in the blaze.

The Fire Department said the fire came up through the unit and into the attic space, breaking through the roof. There was smoke throughout the building and extensive damage in the unit where the fire started.  Sprinklers helped extinguish the fire in the unit of origin.

Crews had to physically force open the doors of the fourth and fifth floors to make sure no one was still inside the building. The scene is under control, but the Fire Department said it’s still not done for the day.  “We’re going to be out here for quite a while. The fire is under investigation. There’s no reason for us to think it’s anything other than probably something electrical or some type of malfunction. Right now, that’s what we’re looking at,” Chief Charles Hood said.  All of the residents in Building 6 are going to have to spend the night somewhere else. The building has sustained significant water damage.  Residents of Building 6 have rooms waiting for them at the Grand Hyatt on Market Street.  The Fire Department is working with the alarm and sprinkler company to see if everyone else can get back in their buildings.  Residents are able to get their cars from the parking garage.

Apartment Building, Residential

Scottsbluff, NE – Arson fire at apartment building contained by newly installed sprinkler system; No injuries

A new fire alarm and sprinkler system played a part in containing fire damage to a minimum at Eastwood Apartments in Scottsbluff. At around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Scottsbluff Fire Department received a call of a fire alarm going off at Eastwood Apartments. Fortunately the building was recently remodeled with a properly functioning alarm and fire suppression system. The fire started inside of a first floor apartment on the north side of the building. According to Scottsbluff Fire Marshal Anthony Murphy, the fire was intentionally set but no further details can be disclosed at this time.

The resident of the apartment had left shortly before the alarm went off. The apartment now suffers water damage. The sprinkler in the apartment was the only one to go off, containing the fire in the unit. “When the crews made entry into to the room that had the fire, there were a bunch of clothing articles that were burning and it definitely was put out mostly by the fire suppression sprinklers,” said Murphy.

All building residents were evacuated at the time of the fire and nobody was injured. Scottsbluff Fire Department was assisted by Gering Fire Department and Valley Ambulance. The cause of the fire is still currently under investigation, the cost of damages is also unknown.

Apartment Building, Residential

Keene, NH – Sprinkler system helps stop fire at multi-family building

A second-alarm fire broke out at a multi-family building just northeast of downtown Keene Tuesday night.

The first call for assistance came at 6:32 p.m. to battle a fire at the Beaver Brook Apartments at 543 Washington St., which is near the intersection of Cottage Street.

The two-story structure has 24 apartments.

Keene fire officials reported that the blaze in a second-story apartment took about 40 minutes to bring under control. Fire was limited to that one unit and there was smoke damage affecting about 25 percent of the building.

The state chapter of American Red Cross reported that it was assisting one family with shelter after the blaze.

The one occupant of the apartment was offered, but refused, medical transport for treatment, fire officials said.

The building’s sprinkler assisted with controlling the blaze.

At the height of the fire, there were eight public safety trucks on scene, according to the Southwestern New Hampshire Mutual Assistance Program.

By 7:30 p.m., firefighters were bringing tenants back into the building to retrieve their belongings and their pets. First responders assisted to prevent the lower apartments from getting water damage.

The origin and cause of the fire remain under investigation. Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to call the Keene Fire Department at 603-757-1863.

Brattleboro, Vt., and Swanzey Fire assisted at the scene. Crews from the Marlborough, Spofford, Chesterfield, Peterborough and Walpole fire departments provided coverage to the two Keene Fire Stations.

Apartment Building, Residential

Belton, TX – Overnight apartment fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A stove that was left on led to a fire in a second-floor unit at the River Springs at Barge Ranch apartments, 3300 N. Main Street, on Sunday night. A sprinkler system in the unit put the fire out, according to a press release from Paul Romer, public information officer for the city of Belton.  Nobody was injured in the fire, but it displaced two adults – one in the unit where the fire occurred and another person from the unit directly below.  The Belton Fire Department responded to a call about the fire at about 11:15 p.m. on Sunday by sending two engine trucks and two ambulances. The Temple Fire Department provided mutual aid with an engine and a ladder truck.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Ridgefield, CT – Kitchen fire at senior living facility extinguished with help from sprinkler system

The Ridgefield Fire Department responded to a chair fire at Ridgefield Crossings around 9 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. Fire Chief Kevin Tappe said that an elderly woman who lives in the facility was heating a towel in the microwave and it ignited. “The woman grabbed the towel out of the microwave and then tossed it across the room,” Chief Tappe said. “It landed by a chair with clothing on it and started the chair and clothes on fire.”

The facility’s manager used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames and the building’s sprinkler system finished the job, Tappe said. According to the chief, there was very little fire damage and some smoke and water damage. Chief Tappe said that the fire alarms and sprinkler system worked properly. Fire officials opened the windows and used fans to clear the smoke from the building, Tappe said. No one was injured.