Category Archives: Other – Storage / Warehouse

Gainesville, FL – Sprinkler system activated for dumpster fire in garage; No injuries reported

There are no injuries after a building fire in Gainesville early Tuesday morning.

Gainesville Fire Rescue responded to the Hub at 1258 Northwest 3rd Avenue. First arriving crews reported smoke coming from the parking garage.

The fire was located in a dumpster on the first floor of the garage. The building sprinkler system held the fire in place until crews extinguished it.

There were no injuries reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Police are questioning one person of interest.

Winnipeg, MB, Canada – Sprinkler system contains fire at industrial building; No injuries reported

At 8:34 p.m. on Thursday, February 15, 2024, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to a monitored fire alarm in an industrial building in the 1200 block of Fife Street.

When crews arrived to the scene, they found smoke coming from the structure. The fire was quickly brought under control, having been contained by the building’s sprinkler system.

There were no occupants in the building at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The building sustained smoke, fire, and water damage. Damage estimates are not available at this time.

DeKalb, IL – Sprinkler system activated for vehicle fire in maintenance garage; No injuries reported

Crews from the DeKalb Fire Department saw water flowing from a sprinkler system in the garage when they arrived at 6:11 p.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from the department. Emergency crews entered the smoke-filled garage as they worked to establish connection to the water supply to fight the fire.

The fire was located coming from a vehicle inside, and was extinguished in about 20 minutes, authorities said.

Damages were estimated to be about $165,000, according to the news release.

Crews from the DeKalb Fire Department saw water flowing from a sprinkler system in the garage when they arrived at 6:11 p.m. Wednesday, according to a news release from the department. Emergency crews entered the smoke-filled garage as they worked to establish connection to the water supply to fight the fire.

The fire was located coming from a vehicle inside, and was extinguished in about 20 minutes, authorities said.

Damages were estimated to be about $165,000, according to the news release.

Fire Chief Mike Thomas said the presence of the sprinkler system was helpful to crews responding to the fire.

“It saved the day, for sure,” Thomas said. “It kept the fire to a minimum. But it created a lot of smoke.”

Thomas said that because of the large size of the building, clearing smoke was a challenge.

No people were inside the garage at the time of the fire, authorities said. No injuries were reported to firefighters or emergency personnel.

A mobile ventilation unit was requested by DeKalb firefighters as they worked to clear the smoke.

Firefighters responded to two other medical calls in the city as the incident occurred, authorities said.

The cause of the fire hasn’t yet been determined, though the incident remains under investigation by the DeKalb Fire Department.

“We do know the fire originated in the vehicle there,” Thomas said.

The DeKalb Fire Department was assisted by agencies including from Cortland, Sycamore, Genoa-Kingston, Maple Park and New Milford.

Atlanta, GA – Sprinkler system activated for hazmat situation at storage facility; No injuries reported

Fire officials said Tuesday that an early-morning fire call in Marietta actually had been a hazmat situation at a building on Industrial Park Drive that has since been taken care of.

According to Cobb Fire, which assisted the Marietta Fire Department on scene, a sprinkler system went off inside the building around 5:30 a.m.

When they arrived at, they discovered that “a chemical reaction of an organic acid-based compound had generated enough heat to activate the sprinkler system.”

Cobb Fire’s crews and a hazmat response company “assessed the scene and began remediation efforts.”

The fire service said no employees were in the building at the time of the situation, there were no injuries and no surrounding businesses required evacuation.

The incident occurred at 980 Industrial Park Drive, which appears to be an RV storage location ran by the company The RV Loft.

Elkhart, IN – Sprinkler system contains fire after coach bus catches fire inside building; No injuries reported

Elkhart Fire Department responded to a fire inside the former Forest River plant at 914 CR 1, Elkhart on Monday afternoon.

A bus was on fire inside the plant, which Elkhart Coach moved into just three weeks ago. The fire department had to stretch about 200 feet of hose line to reach the building.

The fire was reported out around 4:30 p.m. No one was injured and employees were evacuated safely.

Dispatch confirms that the bus caught fire inside building, but no units inside were damaged. The sprinkler system contained the fire and firefighters put it out.

Milledgeville, GA – Reactive chemical sets fire to warehouse, sprinkler system helped keep fire in check; No injuries reported

A chemical fire Monday evening in a warehouse at the Zschimmer & Schwarz Inc. plant in Milledgeville left parts of the plant with heat and water damages.

No injuries were reported to either plant employees or to firefighters who were alerted to the scene following a 911 call about 6:30 p.m. Employees had evacuated the plant before the first firefighters arrived. 

More than two dozen firefighters from Baldwin County Fire Rescue and Milledgeville Fire Rescue responded to the fire, which reportedly sent flames up to the ceiling beams of the plant’s smaller warehouse, located to the left front portion of the building that overlooks Ga. Route 22 near Britt Waters Road. 

At least three different agencies were involved Tuesday in investigating the fire, including Baldwin County Fire Rescue, Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Emergency Response Team.

“The fire was contained to one section in the warehouse,” according to Baldwin County Fire Rescue Chief Steve Somers.

He said the fire was believed to have been caused by a reactive chemical. The name of the chemical had not been disclosed publicly as of Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ll have it in the report as soon as it is completed,” Somers said.

The fire chief said none of the plant’s employees or any of the firefighters were exposed to the chemical, however. 

“Several other non-chemical containers also sustained heat damages from the fire,” Somers said. “Those products were not flammable. The fire just caused the substance in them to leak out.”

Somers said the only pallet of chemical substance that was what he described as hazardous was the one that caught fire.

The Milledgeville Zschimmer & Schwarz plant produces several different chemicals that are used for soap and other products.

“Most of the chemicals that they produce are not hazardous,” Somers said.

The fire spread smoke throughout much of the building, including the office area.

“There seems to be no other ignition source in that area, so that’s what we, and the chemist from the company, are going with at this time,” Somers said. “The chemist tried to explain to us that the product was not in a settled state. In fact, they were in the process of getting rid of it. They were not involved in getting rid of it when this happened, but they were working on the process of getting it out of the warehouse. But, it reacted before that could do something with it.”

Somers said the evacuation involved a skeleton crew of employees. All of them stayed on the front side of the building while county and city firefighters combed the building in search of hot spots.

The fire chief said a couple of ceiling beams were damaged due to the heat.

“The fire probable lasted just a few seconds, but it was hot enough to do that amount of damage in that short a period of time,” Somers said. “Immediately, it set off approximately 40 sprinkler heads in the warehouse.”

Somers said the plant’s offices sustained no real damages.

Firefighters were led by Baldwin County Fire Rescue Deputy Chief of Operations Philip Adams. 

“Everybody did a great job of working together,” Somers said, referring to county and city firefighters. “Anytime we have a structure fire, we back each other up. The city actually got there a few seconds before we did. And they did an awesome job in figuring out what was going on so they could give us a heads-up when we got there.”

Schofield, WI – Fire caused by cardboard put out by fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

 A fire broke out in a maintenance area at Northern Cold Storage Monday afternoon. It closed parts of Grossman Drive for several hours.

Firefighters believe some cardboard caught fire after a wall heater malfunctioned.

Internal sprinkler systems put the fire out, but the area also contained an ammonia pump. A hazmat team was called in by the storage company.

“They showed up here and made sure that the ammonia system was working correctly and it is,” said Rob Bowen, the Riverside Fire District Fire Chief. “So there’s no fear to the public or anything.”

Fire crews started packing up around 6:00 PM.

All employees evacuated the building without injury.

There was light smoke damage to the building.

Salinas, CA – Fire in storage unit building controlled with help from sprinkler system

Salinas firefighters doused flames at a storage unit building at Bridge and Lake streets early last Friday. The fire was reported around 8:24 a.m. No one was injured in the fire and firefighters had it under control in about half an hour. The building’s automatic sprinkler system was activated before firefighters arrived and helped keep fire under control, Acting Battalion Chief Keith Emery said.

It’s unclear whether the fire originated outside the building or inside, Emery said. The cause remains under investigation. Jose Luis Hernandez is a nearby business owner and he alleged that the fire was started by people camping along the railroad tracks and trying to stay warm. This was the second fire that he said his employees reported in the last two days. Emery said firefighters respond to about two fires near railroad tracks daily.

Las Vegas, NV – Sprinkler system assisted firefighters in extinguishing fire in commercial building

Sprinklers and Clark County firefighters extinguished a fire in a commercial building several blocks west of the Strip on Sunday morning.

Just before 8 a.m., the Clark County Fire Department responded to a report of fire alarms going off in a commercial building at 4375 W. Reno Ave., just south of West Tropicana Avenue and South Arville Street.

Arriving crews found a single story commercial structure with smoke coming from the roof vents and doors. Because of the size of the building, firefighters called for additional resources, according to a news release.

Crews had to fight moderate heat and near zero visibility which hampered their efforts to locate what was burning.

Other fire crews were assigned to open the large doors on the rear of the building in order to improve visibility and provide a secondary means of escape should the firefighters on the inside need to get out.

A sprinkler system prevented the fire from consuming the entire structure.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Clark County Fire Department’s fire investigation division. Damage estimates are not yet available.

The owners of the business arrived on-scene while fire crews were still operating.

There were no injuries.

Kelowna, BC, Canada – Car fire contained by sprinkler system until fire crews arrived

Sunday morning at 2:45 a.m. the Kelowna Fire Department dispatch center received a 911 call reporting three vehicles on fire inside a storage/mechanic bay type structure, in the 3100 Block of Sexsmith Rd.

The first arriving Officer reported smoke coming from the soffit area of the roof.

Crews gained access to the building and discovered a single vehicle on fire with impingement on two others. The sprinkler system had been activated and was able to contain the fire. Fire crews then finished extinguishment, ventilation and overhaul.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by both RCMP and Kelowna Fire Department investigators.

Kelowna Fire Department responded with four engines, one ladder truck, rescue unit, a safety unit and Command vehicle with a total of 17 personnel.

Please check your smoke alarms. They do save lives.

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