Category Archives: Residential

Southfield, MI – Early morning fire in senior high-rise complex put out by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

The all-clear has been given after some scary, smoky moments inside a senior living complex in Southfield early Thursday morning.  Fire crews were called around 3:30 a.m. to Highland Towers off Greenfield Road near Interstate 696 because the fire alarms were going off. Many residents saw and smelled smoke.  Firefighters were door to door on all 12 floors trying to wake everyone up and learn where the smoke was coming from.

“We didn’t know where the fire came from,” says Deborah Taylor-Kiel. “I just smelled the smoke because the doors shut and the fire alarm went off in my apartment where I live, and that’s very scary.”

Eventually, firefighters learned someone threw something down the trash shoot which started a fire in the trash room. The sprinkler system was able to put the fire out.

No one was hurt and nobody’s individual apartment was damaged, so everyone was allowed back in their homes. Some parts of the building have water damage now, though. 

Binghamton, NY – Apartment fire contained to one unit with help from sprinkler system

Firefighters spent the evening on the scene of an apartment fire at 58 Park Avenue in Binghamton.

According to the Binghamton Fire Department, apartment 1A caught fire.

BFD officials say the fire damage was contained to apartment 1A, which they say now needs extensive renovations.

BFD says the fire sprinkler in the apartment hallway was activated, but the fire was contained to apartment 1A. Smoke, however, moved up the stairwell to both the second and third floors.

A woman and child were pulled out of an apartment window on the third floor because smoke moved to the third floor, trapping the mother and her son in apartment 3A behind a cloud of thick smoke.

“What I heard was the guy on the first floor, he was leaving the building and the fire was going on in his apartment,” said apartment 3A resident and mother Lydia Lopez.

With the tenant from 1-A already out of the building, it was up to Lopez’s downstairs neighbor on the second floor to alert other residents to the fire on the first floor.

“She said ‘tell everybody get out!’ and he just got out, he didn’t tell nobody get out. So by the time I could get out, the house in 3-A was already flooded in smoke and I couldn’t get out with my son. They had to take me out the window from the back,” Lopez continued.

“The tower took a ladder around to the backside of the building, put it up to the third floor, and rescued the mother and her baby from the third floor,” said BFD Assistant Fire Chief Mark Whalen.

The thick smoke made it almost impossible to see the walls of apartment 3-A and Lopez didn’t want to take her son through the smoke.

Chief Whalen says firefighters arrived 2 minutes after the 9-1-1 call, and had her out of the apartment moments after arriving.

She tells 12 News that after being surprised by smoke billowing into their apartment, she’s lucky to be alive.

“I’m happy they got here on time, cuz other times some people are not lucky to get out alive, so we got out safe and sound, thanks to the fire department,” Lopez said.

Asst. Chief Whalen says the apartment complex was turned back over to the owner and the owner will decide whether or not tenants will be allowed back in before repairs are made.

The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Abingdon, VA – Sprinkler system helps extinguish fire at retirement home

A man was taken to the hospital Friday morning after his apartment in a retirement home in Abingdon, Va. caught fire.

News 5 learned it happened just before 7 a.m. at the Green Spring Retirement Home. The man was taken to the hospital for observation.

The Green Spring Volunteer Fire Department chief said they believe the fire was caused by a rag left on the stove. The fire quickly spread to other appliances causing an estimated $35,000 in damages.

The activation of a sprinkler system helped crews put out the fire quickly.

Katy, TX – (No Media Coverage) – No injuries at apartment complex as sprinkler system limits fire to one unit

*** NO MEDIA COVERAGE – FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED ***  A fire occurred at the Westgreen Apartments in the 500 block of Westgreen in Katy, TX (unincorporated Harris County). A grease fire caused the activation of one sprinkler head in the kitchen. Fire damage was limited, and contained to the one unit. One sprinkler head completely extinguished the fire, and no injuries were reported.

Lafayette, LA – No injuries at senior apartment building as sprinkler system limits fire to one unit

Dozens of elderly residents were displaced Tuesday night after a fire at the historic Evangeline Hotel in downtown Lafayette. The building is located at the intersection of Jefferson and Vine St.

Lafayette fire officials say it could be a couple of days, maybe even weeks, before residents can return back to the complex, but the 69 residents who were evacuated are now safe and sound at a local hotel.

The fire started in the kitchen of a room on the 4th floor of the six story building around 8:30 p.m. Fire officials say the tenant was cooking when she fell asleep.

“Fortunately, the apartments had a sprinkler system and it activated pretty quickly and extinguished the fire, so the fire was contained to the small area,” said Lafayette Fire Investigator, Alton Trahan, but it’s the amount of water that the sprinkler system produced that caused the evacuation of residents.

“The water damage from the sprinkler system actually went from the 4th floor all the way down to the 1st floor, so you had a lot of flooding in all the units underneath,” said Trahan.

Electrical hazard concerns had prompted the owners to cut power to the building and bring in engineers to inspect the damage.

“A lot of components within that facility need to be examined and once it’s cleared they’ll be able to put the power back on,” said Trahan.

Meanwhile, the displaced residents, initially housed in two hotels, have since been reunited at one local hotel.

“Most of them came last night, a few of them early this morning,” said Shawn Johnson, General Manager of the Ramada Inn. “I think we’re accommodating about 41 people.”

Johnson says they had to do a little moving around, but they were able to squeeze everyone in.

“They all have their own room,” said Johnson. “We’ve included all their meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner all together, so I’m very grateful and thankful we’re able to accommodate them. Most of them came in with just what they had on.”

News 10 also spoke with the on-site manager of the Evangeline Apartments and she said the property is controlled by the Lafayette Neighborhoods’ Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors, who wished not to comment at this time citing that their first priority is the residents well-being.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

Lafayette, LA – Sprinkler system activates in high-rise senior apartment building fire; No injuries reported

The fire originated in an apartment on the fourth floor of Evangeline Elderly Apartments. It was caused by an occupant who left a pot of grease unattended on the stove top. The grease ignited and caught the cabinets in the kitchen on fire. The sprinkler system in the apartment activated and quickly extinguished the fire. The kitchen sustained minimal fire damage. However, heavy water damage was observed seeping through light fixtures on the first floor.

Concerned of electrical hazards from the water, 69 tenants were evacuated and later transported to two local hotels. The management company arranged for the transportation and lodging.

Acadian Ambulance, Lafayette Police, and American Red Cross assisted fire personnel with the care of the elderly tenants. No one sustained any injuries.

The cause of the fire was ruled an accident.

ORIGINAL STORY:A small fire that broke out Tuesday evening at Evangeline Elderly Apartments in Lafayette has inadvertently caused big problems for more than 60 of its residents.

According to information from the Lafayette Fire Department, a small fire broke out in a fourth-floor apartment’s kitchen Tuesday, triggering the building’s sprinkler system. The fire was extinguished before firefighters arrived at the scene; however, the water from the sprinkler system caused another issue.

As a result of the water from the sprinkler system, firefighters worked to evacuate about 65 of the complex’s residents.

“The fourth floor on down has sustained some extent of water damage,” Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan said in an email. “Water is seeping through some of the electrical fixtures on each floor.”

Jackson, NJ – Sprinkler system activates in fire at senior assisted living complex; No injuries reported

A fire Sunday morning at the Bella Terra assisted living complex at 2 Kathleen Drive resulted in approximately 100 people being evacuated to Jackson Liberty High School, Jackson Township Chief of Police Matthew Kunz said.

Mayor Michael Reina said the fire broke out in the D-wing of the facility and resulted in the evacuation of 44 rooms. More than 30 people living in that wing were taken to Jackson Liberty High School for temporary shelter.

“The only thing I know is that the fire was in the attic area above the third floor. It might have been initiated in a heating, air conditioning unit and spread out into the attic area,” Kunz said late Sunday morning at Jackson Liberty as the evacuees were being transported into the high school. “The sprinkler systems were activated, as a result of the heat and the fire causing extensive water damage on that side of the building.”

Both Kunz and Ocean County Sheriff Mike Mastronardy said the high school was being used as a temporary staging area for the evacuees.

Kunz said: “There were no injuries, but because of the fire and water damage, there had to be an evacuation of the building so the building department and inspections could get in and take an assessment as to what was damaged or if it (Bella Terra) could be rehabitated. That’s going to be an all-day process.”

Denise Olejarz, Deputy Coordinator for the Jackson Office of Emergency Management, said early Sunday afternoon that some of the evacuees had either gone home with family members or been transported back to Bella Terra. Olejarz said not all the rooms at Bella Terra are habitable.

Reina said the D-wing had roof damaged and would remain closed until further notice. Bella Terra had enough open units to relocate the D-wing’s residents, he said.

Ethel Levine, 89, resident of Bella Terra for 13 years, said the fire alarm at the complex went off at about 7 a.m. She said members of the Jackson Township Fire Department arrived at about 7:30 a.m., knocking on the doors of the residents and telling everyone to move into the lobby area.

“Then they told us, which of us had to be evacuated,” Levine said. Levine, who lives on the second floor of the complex, said said she remained calm.

“I’ve been through a bomb scare when I worked at the post office so this didn’t bother me,” Levine said.

John Dittman, 60, a resident at Bella Terra for eight years, also said everyone remained calm before they were transported to Jackson Liberty.

“The only pain was being inconvenienced. It wasn’t scary,” Dittman said.

Mastronardy said there were over a dozen ambulances on site and a bus from the Monmouth County EMS Task Force to assist in the evacuation process.

The fire occurred at about 7:20 a.m, and the Jackson Township Police Department and officers with stations 54 and 55 of the Jackson Township Fire Department responded to the alarm, Jackson Police Deparment Lt. John Decker said.

Fire departments from neighboring towns also came to help, Reina said.

“The evacuation, rescue went seamless and not a single injury,” he said. “I’m a very grateful mayor tonight.”

Riverside, CA – House fire caused by short-circuited microwave oven controlled by sprinkler system

A microwave oven short-circuited, igniting a nighttime kitchen fire that displaced four Riverside residents and caused $4,000 damage to their home, city fire officials say. The blaze was reported at 9:49 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, along the 6400 block of Logan Court, just north of Arlington Avenue and about a mile southwest of Riverside Muncipal Airport.

“The home’s sprinkler system kept the fire contained to the kitchen,” Battalion Chief Jeff DeLaurie said in a written statement. The crews of two fire engines and two ladder trucks fully extinguished the flames by 11:16 p.m. No one was hurt. American Red Cross volunteers were summoned to help shelter the residents until water and electrical service can be restored to the house.

Jersey City, NJ – Fire in compactor shaft at high-rise apartment building put out with help from sprinkler system

Jersey City firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at a residential building in the Newport section of the city Thursday night, an official said.  The fire began in the compactor shaft on the first floor of Parkside West — a high-rise apartment building on Newport Parkway — shortly before 11:45 p.m., Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

The sprinkler in the shaft activated to help extinguish the fire, Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill added. The residents on the first and second floor evacuated the building, but there were no injuries and the fire was brought under control in about 20
minutes. All tenants returned to their apartments, Morrill said.

The fire reached a second alarm because the building is a high-rise, Morrill said.

Hagerstown, MD – Kitchen fire at new apartment complex extinguished by sprinkler system

A fire that broke out at the Reserve at Collegiate Acres apartment complex in Hagerstown Thursday afternoon could have been much worse if not for the building’s second-floor sprinkler system.

Firefighters from the city and Maugansville responded to the apartment complex on Buckeye Circle at 4:45 p.m. to find the fire-alarm system activated and occupants evacuating the building, according to a Hagerstown Fire Department news release.

Residents reported a fire in the second-floor kitchen apartment, which had been extinguished by the sprinklers. Firefighters verified that the fire was out, shut off the sprinklers and worked to contain the remaining water, the release said.

“This new 28-unit apartment building would most likely have suffered significant damage, displacing much or all of the occupants without the fire sprinkler system,” city Fire Marshal Doug DeHaven said in the release.

“We have had too many large fires recently in the area. Today, we saw the importance of working smoke alarms, which activated alerting the apartment occupants of the fire; the fire sprinkler system, which extinguished a growing fire in the apartment; and the buildings fire alarm that alerted others within the building and notified the fire department,” he said.

The fire marshal’s investigation determined that a pot of grease on the stove caught fire, spreading into the exhaust fan and the above cabinets, the release said.

The occupants of the apartment found the burning pot and attempted to remove it, which activated the sprinklers, the release said.