Category Archives: College/University (on campus)

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential, Residential High Rise

Champaign, IL – Sprinklers control fire in campus high-rise apartment building

Nobody was hurt in an apartment fire Sunday night at a campus high-rise.  Champaign Fire Marshal John Koller said firefighters were called to a blaze at the Tower at Third, 302 E. John St. at 9:22 p.m.

By the time firefighters arrived, the sprinkler system was already controlling the fire, which was limited to a single apartment on the third floor. However, smoke had spread throughout the floor. There was moderate smoke in the apartment and light smoke on the rest of the floor.

The residents were evacuated to the lobby on the first floor while firefighters tackled the blaze.  A resident of the apartment told firefighters he had had some problems with a refrigerator in the apartment, but it was too soon to determine a cause on Sunday night. 

Koller said investigators would be looking into the cause late Sunday night and early Monday morning.  Koller said the fire was under control by 9:40 p.m.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Salt Lake City, UT – Sprinklers douse fire in University of Utah chemistry lab

Authorities say a small explosion at a University of Utah chemistry building was caused by a chemical reaction inside a storage cabinet.

Salt Lake City firefighters say the Thursday morning explosion was contained inside a sheet metal cabinet but emitted hazardous chemicals into the air.

Salt Lake City fire department spokesman Jasen Asay says firefighters evacuated the building to clear chemical residue from the air and vent smoke.

Asay says the explosion caused a small fire, but sprinklers doused it before crews arrived.

Classes were canceled and the building is expected to remain closed for hours.

Firefighters are investigating what chemicals were stored in the room.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Durham, NH – Fire at University of New Hampshire contained with help from sprinklers

A small oven fire broke out in Rudman Hall at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday evening.  Durham Fire Chief Corey Landry said the department received a call about a fire in an oven on the third floor of Rudman Hall around 7:25 p.m. Located on College Road, Rudman Hall is home to the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.

Landry said the caller was using a commercial-sized oven and had placed plastic tubes inside. Landry could not comment what the caller was doing specifically with the tubes.   The tubes had melted and started a small fire, but it was contained to the oven, Landry said. The fire set off the sprinkler system, but the water was drained through drains in the floor.

Landry said the building was evacuated, but there was no one inside. The only damage sustained was to the plastic tubes.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Miami, FL – Sprinkler system extinguishes overnight fire at art school

An overnight electrical fire at the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami sent firefighters to the campus and parts of a class project to the trash. Firefighters responded to the small fire in a gallery at the school around 1 a.m. Tuesday, said Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll. “The sprinkler system actually put the fire out,” Carroll said. 

He added that “crews were out there for a little bit” to try to remove all the water from the sprinklers from the building and to get the smoke to clear out. “The water doesn’t stop once the fire is out,” Carroll said.  Firefighters also changed the sprinklers and reset the alarm system, he added.  No one was injured in the fire. Classes were not affected by the fire. “We’re fully operational,” Hodgson said. “There are no classes in that room.”

 

College/University (on campus), School / University

North Vancouver, BC, Canada – Suspected arson fire at Capilano University contained by sprinkler system

North Vancouver RCMP are searching for suspects in a break-in and possible arson at Capilano University this morning.  Emergency crews were called to the university library shortly after midnight.

“On arrival, we noticed smoke in the library,” says Ast. Fire Chief Dave Burgess. “There was a small fire and the sprinkler had it deactivated.  The sprinkler controlled the fire and kept it to the area of origin.”

Investigators aren’t sure what may have been stolen from the library yet. They will examine video surveillance in an effort to identify any potential suspects. The University says they will be assessing the damage, but do not anticipate any class disruptions today.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Piscataway, NJ – Arson fire at Rutgers University put out by sprinkler system

The investigation determined that a former student set fire to a 30-foot section of the hallway and the adjoining classroom on the second floor of the ARC Building at 1:03 p.m. on Dec. 20. 

The fire was extinguished by an overhead sprinkler, but damaged portions of the hallway and the classroom.  The flash fire also set off an alarm, forcing the evacuation of 210 students who were taking a final exam in a first-floor auditorium located beneath the burning hallway.  No one was injured.

 

College/University (on campus), School / University

Providence, RI – Sprinklers activated properly during Brown University locker room fire

During Thursday’s electrical fire in the men’s track and field locker room in the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center, all fire prevention measures functioned properly, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president of facilities management. Though several of the athletes present at the time of the fire observed that the sprinkler system did not immediately activate, Stephen Morin, director of environmental health and safety, wrote in an email to The Herald that the heat-activated sprinkler heads did respond to the fire.

The fire was “10 or 15 feet away” from the heat detector, said Luke Muzikowski ’17, a member of the team who was present at the time of the fire. Both the detector and the sprinklers are activated when the room reaches a certain temperature, Devlin said, adding that the alarm and sprinkler systems were therefore not at the threshold temperature to activate the alarm by the time the runners left the locker room and the building was evacuated.

“It worked exactly the way it was supposed to,” Maiorisi said.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Albany, NY – Fire sprinkler activates to control fire at University of Albany

Husted Hall on the University at Albany’s downtown campus, was closed through Wednesday evening after a small fire at about 1:30 p.m., according to an advisory sent to students.

University police said a chair Room B-008 was found on fire but no other damage was reported. At 4:40 p.m., another chair in the same room was set on fire, causing the building’s sprinkler systems to activate, according to the advisory.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Fire at University of Illinois laboratory extinguished by sprinkler system (Champaign, IL)

Nobody was hurt in a fire at a University of Illinois laboratory on Wednesday afternoon. Urbana Fire Marshal Phil Edwards said firefighters were called to Roger Adams Laboratory (600 S. Mathews Ave.) at 4:13 p.m. We got a call that somebody reported smoke and flames coming from a closet in one of the rooms,” Edwards said.  By the time firefighters arrived, the building’s sprinkler system had already put out the fire, he said. Since the fire took place in an electrical closet, firefighters believe that electrical problems may have been the cause.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Fire at Mississippi State University dormitory contained by sprinkler system (Starkville, MS)

Mississippi State University officials say repairs are beginning immediately on a women’s dormitory that was damaged by a Sunday night fire that appears to have been started by a candle burning in one of the rooms. The university said nobody was injured, but more than 150 students stayed elsewhere Sunday night after a fire began around 8 p.m. in one wing of Oak Hall, which opened in 2012. Local fire officials said the fire on the third story of the four-story building appears to have been caused by a candle burning in one of the rooms, and it was contained by sprinklers.