Category Archives: Residential

Prescott, AZ – Fire at senior apartment complex contained by sprinklers

Three residents were unable to return to their apartments at Alta Vista Retirement Apartments after fire crews responded Friday afternoon, June 12, in what turned out to be a box left on a stovetop. Prescott Fire Department Battalion Chief Eric Kriwer said the department was dispatched at approximately 2:15 p.m. to the apartments in the 900 block of Canterbury Lane, responding with four engines and a company truck. He credited the sprinkler system at the apartments with preventing a more serious outcome.

Occupants of some 50 residences evacuated the building as crews looked for extensions throughout the building. Two people were treated for lightheadedness and transported by ambulance to the Prescott campus of Yavapai Regional Medical Center. The ensuing investigation revealed a fifth-floor resident had left a box on the stove and apparently turned on a burner, which ignited the cardboard and triggered the sprinkler system in the kitchen area. Kriwer said three residence were displaced and the property loss is still being calculated.

Las Vegas, NV – Automatic sprinkler douses bathroom fire at senior apartment building

Las Vegas firefighters aided by Clark County firefighters were called to a bathroom fire at the Destinations at Oakey Senior Apartments, 3900 W. Oakey Boulevard at 8:34 Tuesday morning.

Firefighters found light smoke coming from one apartment in the two story wood frame/stucco apartment building. The fire was out when firefighters found it. The fire was extinguished by an automatic fire sprinkler in the bathroom.

Fire investigators believe the fire started in the bathroom fan.

The plastic front piece on the fan melted and dripped onto a towel that was on a towel bar mounted on the wall. That fire provided the heat necessary to activate the fire sprinkler which quickly put out the fire. Damage was confined to the wall and the area around the fan. Damage was estimated at $2500.

The occupant told fire investigators he was lying on the couch in the living room watching TV. He smelled something burning. 

When he checked the bathroom, he saw the towel burning. Just as he was leaving, the fire sprinkler activated as well as the smoke alarm. The man escaped without injury. The entire apartment building was evacuated during the incident.

The fire sprinkler activated and kept the fire to a minimum until firefighters arrived on scene and made sure the fire was completely out. Damage was kept to a minimum.

The fire caused approximately $2,500 in damages.

Ocean City, MD – High-rise condominium fire extinguished by sprinkler system

A potential disaster was averted on Sunday evening when a sprinkler quickly extinguished a kitchen fire at a 25th-floor unit in a north-end high-rise condominium.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Sunday, the Ocean City Fire Department responded to a fire alarm activation resulting from a fire in a unit at the Century I condominium building. When firefighters arrived, there was smoke reported from a unit on the 25th floor. The fire department response was quickly upgraded to a structure fire in a high-rise structure.

The fire, which originated in the unit’s kitchen, was suppressed by one fire sprinkler upon arrival of the fire department. Firefighters on scene worked immediately to remove smoke throughout the 25th floor. OCFD officials said the fire at the high-rise structure illustrated the importance of working fire sprinkler systems.

“Fire sprinklers respond quickly and effectively to fire, often extinguishing the fire before the fire department arrives,” said Ocean City Fire Marshal David Hartley. “This is a perfect example of how an automatic sprinkler reacted quickly, reduced the heat and flames and prevented injuries to those inside the building.”

The unit was unoccupied at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The fire damage was limited to the unit in which it originated. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Ocean City Fire Marshal’s Office.

Toms River, NJ – Overnight apartment fire extinguished by single sprinkler

A flash fire caused when a resident tried to extinguish burning candle wax was controlled when the building’s automatic sprinkler system turned on, fire officials said Monday.

Two apartments at Greenview Way in The Villages at Bey Lea apartment complex were left uninhabitable due to damage from the fire Sunday evening, said James Mercready, director of the Toms River Bureau of Fire Prevention. One person suffered minor injuries, he said.

Firefighters from the Pleasant Plains Fire Company responded to the call at 11:20 p.m. and upon arrival found the fire — in the bathroom of one apartment — had been extinguished by a single fire sprinkler head that activated, Mercready said.

Toms River Fire Inspector Dominick Roselli determined the fire was accidental. Candle wax caught fire on the kitchen stove, and when the resident put it in the bathroom’s shower to put it out, it created a flash fire, Mercready said.

 The resident suffered minor injuries but refused medical attention, he said.

 Firefighters checked for extension of the fire and performed ventilation, as well as shutting off electric and gas service to the two units because of the damage, he said.

 Mercready said it is the second fire extinguished by the automatic sprinkler system at the complex and fifth sprinker-controlled fire in the township since October.

 “In each case, one fire sprinkler head activated and controlled and suppressed the fire,” he said. “A properly designed, installed and maintained fire sprinkler system is an essential component in fire and life safety as well as property protection.”

 “The rate of effectiveness has been very good during the more than 100 years they have been in use in the United States,” Mercready said.

 Due to the extent of the damage, Roselli ruled two apartments uninhabitable, but six others in the building were able to be reoccupied, Mercready said.

Petaluma, CA – Sprinkler controls fire in home under construction; Protective cap still in place

A blaze that broke out Thursday inside a three-story home under construction northwest of Petaluma could have been much worse had a sprinkler system not activated and limited the fire’s spread, a fire official said.

“Under different circumstances, it could have been a much larger fire,” said Rancho Adobe Fire Battalion Chief Mike Weihman.  The blaze at 3528 Skillman Lane was reported at about 5:55 p.m. by a neighbor who spotted smoke billowing from the unfinished house.

Weihman said the fire broke out in a first-floor room at the rear of the structure that was being used by construction workers. The room also had an overhead fire sprinkler that activated despite being so new that it still had a dust cover over it. Weihman said water from the sprinkler doused most of the flames, greatly assisting firefighters, who brought the blaze under control within 20 minutes of their arrival on scene.

Suffolk, VA – Apartment fire contained to kitchen by sprinkler system

Firefighters responded to a residential fire in downtown Suffolk around 11 a.m. Sunday morning in the 200 block of East Washington Street. When crews arrived, they found that the fire had been suppressed by a sprinkler system in the kitchen of the second floor apartment.

The fire was contained to the kitchen and there was no extension of fire into other apartment units or into the retail businesses on the street level. There were no injuries. The kitchen fire was ruled accidental.

Fort Collins, CO – Apartment kitchen fire extinguished by sprinkler system; No injuries

Firefighters responded to a kitchen fire at an apartment complex in south Fort Collins on Thursday evening that left one unit temporarily vacant. The flames were extinguished by fire sprinklers at 6915 Autumn Ridge Drive before Poudre Fire Authority arrived on scene shortly after 9:30 p.m. Thursday. No one was injured during the incident.

The fire caused an estimated $5,000 in damage and required those who live in the unit to temporarily relocate while restoration takes place, PFA said. It wasn’t immediately clear how the fire started in the kitchen.

Temple, TX – Sprinklers stop spread of apartment fire caused by rechargeable battery

Investigators say a rechargeable battery for a radio controlled model airplane is what started a fire at a Temple apartment Tuesday afternoon. Temple Fire & Rescue crews responded to a fire call at about 3 p.m. at Pecan Pointe Apartments. Firefighters saw smoke coming from the apartment, and were able to quickly locate the flames and extinguish them.

Firefighters credit the building’s fire sprinkler system with limiting the fire damage to the one apartment, which received a little fire damage, along with moderate smoke and water damage. One downstairs apartment also received water damage.

No injuries were reported, but the fire displaced two families. The apartment is making arrangements to house those families. The fire, which was under control by 3:21 p.m., was ruled unintentional. Investigators say a rechargeable battery for a radio controlled model airplane is what started the blaze.

Temple PD and Scott & White EMS also responded to the call.

Frederick, MD – Sprinklers contain Memorial Day apartment fire; No injuries reported

Crews arrived at the Mountain Glen Apartments in the 5700 block of Sugar Maple Court at 10:35 p.m. Monday to find smoke coming from the second floor of a three-story, garden-style apartment building, said Capt. Kevin Fox, a spokesman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services. The apartment’s sprinkler system helped contain the fire while firefighters were setting up.

“It was held to the stove and cabinet area of the kitchen and prevented from spreading into the rest of the building,” Fox said. “It took about 30 firefighters 10 minutes to bring it under control.”

The 12-unit building was evacuated during the firefighters’ response, but no one was displaced by the blaze and no injuries were reported, either to firefighters or residents, Fox said. Firefighters quickly determined that unattended cooking sparked the fire.