Category Archives: Residential

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Easley, SC – Laundry fire at senior living facility contained with help from sprinkler system

Residents of the Brookdale Senior Living facility were evacuated on Monday after a fire broke out in the facility’s laundry room. According to Assistant Fire Chief J. Scott McClain of the Easley Fire Department, the facility, located at 125 Zion School Road, just off Route 8, caught fire just before 3 p.m. Feb. 1, setting off the building’s alarm and sprinkler systems.

Members of the Brookdale staff, Pickens County Emergency operations Center and Rescue 8 assisted with getting the residents to safety. Pickens County Emergency Medical Services also responded to the scene as a precautionary measure but no injuries were reported. McClain stated that while the fire itself was contained to the laundry room, smoke and water damage affected other areas of the building.

“The fire was extinguished in a short period of time, with additional time spent performing salvage and overhaul operations,” McClain said. EFD also stated that Easley Combined Utilities responded to assist with water issues along with the City of Easley Building Official’s Office to check the building for damages. DHEC was notified of the incident.

Two pumper trucks, a platform truck and several support units responded to the fire which was extinguished “in a short period of time.”

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

South Portland, ME – Sprinkler system prevents fire from spreading in condominium complex

Officials with the South Portland Fire Department said no one was hurt after a fire broke out at a condominium complex. The call came in at 12:41 a.m. for a working structure fire.  It happened at Ferry Village Landing condos located at 215 High Street in South Portland.

Authorities said two of the building’s 15 units were damaged. The fire is believed to have started in the walls of one unit and continued up to the attic.  Officials said the activation of the sprinkler system contained the working fire from spreading to other units.

The Red Cross is assisting in the relocation of occupants of one of the units and others are staying with family and friends. Officials said the fire is not considered suspicious, but an official cause is still under investigation.

Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and Westbrook fire departments assisted in station coverage and mutual aid.

Apartment Building, Residential

Reno, NV – No injuries in apartment fire after sprinkler system activates to assist firefighters

American Red Cross volunteers are assisting 14 people who were displaced after an apartment fire near 4th Street and Morrill Avenue on Friday, Jan. 5, 2016. A Reno Fire Department spokesman says firefighters responded to a report of a kitchen fire at the apartment complex about 2:30PM. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within minutes of arriving on the scene. However, 14 units, including the one with the kitchen fire, were damaged when the automatic sprinkler system was activated.

No one was injured and the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Red Cross Disaster Action Team volunteers are meeting with the residents and will ensure everyone has a safe place to sleep, has food, clothing, medication and other essentials.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Camarillo, CA – Sprinkler activates to help control overnight fire at senior living center

The Ventura County Fire Department responded late Tuesday to investigate a fire alarm at a senior living center in Camarillo. The alarm was reported at 11:48 p.m. at Alma Via of Camarillo in the 2500 block on North Ponderosa Drive. Crews at the scene said there was a light smell of smoke in a maintenance room and that a fire-suppression sprinkler had activated. At 12:20 a.m., crews on the scene said the small fire was out.

Apartment Building, Residential High Rise

Stamford, CT – Laundry fire in high-rise apartment building held at bay by sprinkler system

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Though tenants had to wait outside for a bit as firefighters did their work, nobody was hurt and nobody displaced after a drier caught fire in a 12-story high rise on Strawberry Hill Avenue late Friday night. The fire department got the call for a fire at the Carlton Plaza apartment building, situated roughly between the Stamford Police Department headquarters and Stamford High School as the crow flies, shortly before 10:30 p.m.

Fire Capt. Michael Terenzio said that the fire started in or near a drier on the third floor. It is as yet unclear whether a malfunction in the drier started the fire, and the fire marshal is still investigating. “The third floor was evacuated, no one lost use of their apartments, everyone did react to the fire alarm system and it looks like the damage was confined to the object that was on fire, except for, obviously, smoke damage,” said Terenzio. “Everyone was probably out for an hour or so.”

After that, the 120 tenants were able to go back to their units. The captain said the building’s sprinkler system worked as it should and helped keep the fire at bay until firefighters were able to bring up a hose.  As a precaution, firefighters recommend regularly cleaning highly flammable drier lint out of traps and ducts.

Apartment Building, Residential

Henrico, VA – Apartment kitchen fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No other apartments affected

Crews responded to a kitchen fire at an apartment complex in Henrico’s Northside. It happened around 4 p.m. in the 5500 block of Cliffbrook Circle, near Brook Road and I-95.  Officials say someone in the apartment was cooking at the time and left the stove briefly unattended. When she came back, the pan caught on fire and the sprinkler immediately went off, extinguishing the fire.

The fire was marked under control and was determined as “accidental in nature and caused by cooking in the kitchen.” The woman who was cooking was evaluated on scene but not taken to the hospital. Everyone who was in the apartment made it out ok and will be displaced for a short period of time. Two women are being assisted by the American Red Cross, according to fire officials.

No other apartments were affected in the fire.

Apartment Building, Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Porterville, CA – Patio fire at senior apartment complex held in check by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Fire sprinklers on the patio of an apartment at Santa Fe Plaza, a housing complex on North Third Street in Porterville, prevented a fire from spreading Friday afternoon. “This is one of the places we’re always concerned about because of the number of residents,” said City Fire Battalion Chief Glen Hall.

The fire began on the patio of a first-floor apartment, but was contained by the overhead sprinklers. “The fire was held in check by the sprinkler system,” said Hall, adding that it appeared to be contained to a box on the patio and the structure was not burned at all.  Also, the sprinkler only activated on the patio, so there was no water damage to the apartment or any other part of the complex.

However, smoke filled the first floor of the north wing of the complex and the alarm sent more than a dozen residents outside. “I saw smoke billowing … and I grabbed my cat and split,” said resident Sharon Ritchie, who stood outside with several other residents as firefighters inspected the building and worked to clear the smoke.

“I heard the alarm go off and the hallway was full of smoke,” added Norma Fox who lives jus a few doors down from where the fire stated. The fire was reported at about 1:50 p.m. and the city had a full response with five engines, including a ladder truck, and one engine from the county. More than a dozen firefighters were joined by two Porterville police officers who assisted residents out of the smoke-filled complex. One lady in a motorized chair waited outside until a firefighter brought her dog to her. Seeing her dog brought a big smile to her face.

Medical personnel were called to the scene to check out the residents, but no one was injured or sickened by the smoke. One lady said she was winded after walking down three flights of stairs. Hall said the fire was still smoldering when firefighters arrived and they extinguished it at that time. He said there are 105 apartments in the complex, but only the north wing was affected by the fire.

The residents, including the one who lived in the apartment where the fire occurred, were allowed to return to their apartments after about 45 minutes outside. The cause of the fire is under investigation

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Carthage, NC – Sprinklers help confine laundry fire at nursing home

The Aberdeen Times reported that a fire broke out in the laundry room at Tara Plantation at 820 South McNeill Street in Carthage around 9:15 p.m. The fire forced the facility to evacuate.

Once the fire was put out, crews helped with returning the resident back inside.

Carthage Fire Chief Brian Tyner told The Aberdeen Times that the sprinkler system worked, helping to confine the fire to the laundry room.

The newspaper reported that two residents were taken to FirstHealth Hospital in Pinehurst with non-life threatening injuries.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.