Faribault Fire Chief Dustin Dienst meets this morning with a investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office to go over the results of a fire that started in the bathroom at PetsMart in the Faribo West Mall. The call was received 4:59 p.m. Tuesday with the Faribault Fire Department, Faribault Police Department, Rice County Sheriff’s Office and North Ambulance all responding to the scene.
People were evacuated from the building. Chief Dienst says, “Light smoke could be seen in the back of the business. Police officers made entry to locate the fire, evacuate animals and give the fire department a size up.”
When the fire department got there it was determined the fire was located in a bathroom and the sprinkler system had extinguished the fire. The sprinkler system was shut down. Firefighters used squeegees to clean up the water on the floor by pushing it down a drain.
Faribault Police also did on scene investigation and it was decided to call in the State Fire Marshal’s Office because the fire was determined to be suspicious.
Chief Dienst noted the Discover School had a fire late Sunday night where the sprinkler system also did it’s job. That fire was reported 11:17 p.m. Sunday. When the fire department arrived alarms were sounding.
Fire crews located the fire on the 3rd floor and made a quick knock down of the fire with the help from the sprinkler system in the building. The majority of the fire was contained to the 3rd floor ceiling. A small fire started on the wood floor below the ceiling fire from burning materials falling from the ceiling. That fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system.
Cause of the fire was determined to be an electrical short in a wire that was covered with cellulose insulation in the 3rd floor ceiling.
Chief Dienst commented, “The building’s sprinkler system and alarm system operated correctly and alerted the fire department while the fire was still small. Firefighters made entry, located and extinguished the fire quickly. Without those systems this fire had the potential to destroy the building.”
Chief Dienst also commended the employees of PetsMart for, “Doing a good job of evacuating the customers so that no one was in danger.”
