Category Archives: Storage / Warehouse

Phoenix, AZ – Sprinkler system helps extinguish warehouse fire before crews arrive

Crews that work with hazardous materials were called out to a warehouse when a fire broke out on Sunday afternoon.

It happened near 36th Street and Broadway Road.

Firefighters said most of the fire was out by the time they got there thanks to the sprinkler system.

There was a 55-gallon chemical container that contained an unknown substance may have started the fire, the fire department said.

Hazardous materials teams are trying to figure out if the substance is flammable and would start another fire.

Pleasantville, NJ – Warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Firefighters finish the job

Firefighters extinguished a fire Saturday in a commercial building in the 700 block of West Delilah Road.  Firefighters were dispatched to the ABC Supply Co. for a report of activated fire and water flow alarms at 4:10 p.m.  Fire crews smelled smoke, forced a door and found heavy smoke in the warehouse, Battalion Chief Scott Trythall said, and found materials inside the warehouse on fire.  “The sprinkler system was activated and contained the fire until we were able to locate the seat of the fire and extinguish it all the way,” Trythall said.  The incident was under control within 45 minutes, he said.  The Farmington and West Atlantic City volunteer fire companies covered the Pleasantville station while the South Jersey Airport Fire Department’s Station 1 and Northfield and Absecon companies responded to the scene, Trythall said. Pleasantville police also responded and Tricare EMS provided rehab, he said.  There were no injuries, Trythall said.

Edwardsville, IL – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling warehouse storage fire

The Edwardsville Fire Department spent five hours attacking a fire and its aftermath at a redistribution center located near I-255 Wednesday afternoon. Fire Chief Rick Welle said the call came to the station from the D.B. Schanker redistribution center, located at 3049 Westway Drive, at around 2:18 p.m. Thursday for a direct alarm call. Those calls come from buildings – mostly commercial – with sprinkler systems. The fire department is notified when the sprinklers come into action. Welle said that alarm was followed by a 911 call from within the building alerting his department to an active fire.

When firefighters arrived at the scene, Welle said they found several pallets of feminine hygiene products aflame. Mutual aid on the scene was provided by both the Wood River and Glen Carbon Fire Departments, and the Glen Carbon and Collinsville Fire Departments had EMS to back-fill the Edwardsville station.

No injuries were reported from the fire, despite and ambulance being on scene, Welle said. The cause of that fire is still under investigation. Welle said he could not estimate the amount of product lost to the blaze, but said his department worked with workers within the building, using forklifts and skid-steers to take the product outside for ventilation.

Besides fire, lots of water and smoke damage was done within the southern part of the building, but little to no damage was done to the building itself. Welle said the redistribution center was able to quarantine the rest of the building from the southern portion, ensuring the rest of the products stored within were not damaged by fire, smoke or water. The fire department is working with the company itself to determine exact losses. A ventilation fan was brought from the Fairview Heights Fire Department to ensure the building had been properly and thoroughly ventilated. Welle said firefighters stayed on the scene until around 7:00 p.m. Thursday to assist with that ventilation and cleanup.

Mebane, NC – Early morning warehouse fire contained to area of origin by sprinkler system

Crews are working to figure out what caused an industrial fire at the Kidde warehouse in Mebane early Tuesday morning. Mebane fire officials say the fire started around 5:12 a.m. An automatic fire alarm went off, alerting Mebane and Haw River firefighters. Efland, Pleasant Grove, and Sweponsville firefighters also responded.

Crews put the fire out just before 9 a.m. They say the fire started in a storage facility on the Kidde property, which stored merchandise including smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers. Fire crews say no was hurt inside the facility or at the plant when the fire started, and no one was injured putting out the fire.

“The sprinkler system actually kept the fire contained in its area of origin, but it’s a fairly large area, there were several heads that activated,” said Mebane Fire Chief Bob Louis. Crews are still on scene investigating what started the fire. They hope to have an answer by Tuesday afternoon. Kidde has operated in Mebane for decades but expanded its plant in the last few years. Fire officials tell us the storage facility where the fire started is part of the older area of the plant.

Middletown, DE – Fire at Amazon fulfillment center put out by automatic sprinkler system

The Delaware Office of the State Fire Marshal has determined that last night’s Amazon fire in Middletown was accidental and caused minimal damage.  The Volunteer Hose Company of Middletown was called to the Amazon Fulfillment Center at 560 Merrimac Avenue at 9:30 pm for a reported fire inside the processing area. Upon arrival, it was learned that the fire sprinkler system had extinguished the fire. State fire investigators were called to the scene According to a release, the fire occurred at the mezzanine level when static electricity ignited leaking vapor from a container of assorted aerosol cans. The area where the fire began was protected by a fully automatic fire sprinkler system which put the fire out and prevented the blaze from spreading. Fire damage was confined to the stockpile of merchandise and was estimated at $1,000. There were no reported injuries, despite scanner news reports to the contrary on Tuesday night.

Pasco, WA – Early morning warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Firefighters finish the job

Firefighters are now investigating an early morning warehouse fire in Pasco. Firefighters responded to the 1400 block of Foster Wells Rd. around 1:30 this morning, after a warehouse caught on fire.
The building houses cardboard boxes, spices and chemicals used in the local packing houses. Firefighters say that the building’s sprinkler system prevented the fire from spreading beyond the pile of cardboard caught on fire. Crews will be on scene for a while clearing the smoke and checking for hot spots. So far, there are no injuries at this time.

Fresno, CA – Sprinkler system helps suppress blaze at Salvation Army warehouse

A fire at a Salvation Army warehouse near downtown Fresno early Thursday morning burned some boxes of donated items but was largely extinguished by the building’s fire sprinkler system.

Heavy smoke, apparently from burning cardboard boxes, was reported inside the building in the fire reported around 5 a.m. at the warehouse east of Highway 41 and south of Ventura Avenue.  No other information was immediately available.

Ontelaunee, PA – Sprinkler system keeps fire in Ashley Furniture warehouse from spreading

A two-alarm fire occurred last Thursday night at a warehouse for Ashley Furniture in Ontelaunee Township .  Crews were dispatched about 7:20 p.m. to the first block of Ashley Way for the report of an automatic fire alarm.  Leesport Fire Chief Kenneth Quell said employees were evacuating the large building when firefighters arrived and were directed to an area where they were told that the sprinkler system had been activated.

Quell said firefighters encountered smoke in the building and discovered a small fire contained within a three-level rack system that holds finished furniture in the warehouse. Quell said firefighters knocked down the fire within minutes and had it under control within 30 minutes.

“The fire itself didn’t envelop a very big area,” Quell said. “The sprinklers contained it and kept it from spreading.” About 50 firefighters responded, Quell said. There were no reports of injuries to employees or firefighters. Ashley employees re-entered the building to help remove excess water on the floor from the sprinkler system, Quell said. A state police fire marshal was called to help in the investigation, Quell said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called out after the investigation was started, he said. Quell said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Windsor, VT – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in bringing large warehouse fire under control

The alarm and sprinkler systems inside a large warehouse at the Windsor Technology Park helped prevent the flames from a fire on Saturday morning from damaging any of the nearly 300 vehicles stored there, co-owner of the park Alan Cummings said on Monday. “We have a sophisticated alarm and sprinkler system so it was caught quickly,” Cummings said. “The furnace was destroyed but nothing else. The fire department did a great job.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but fire officials said it started in the elevated furnace in one corner of the building. Windsor Fire Chief Kevin McAllister said when the first crews arrived just past 11 a.m. and opened the doors to warehouse, they saw a “large amount of fire,” but were uncertain of its origin. McAllister said it took about 15-20 minutes to knock down the fire and get it under control; they were able to contain it to the oil-fired furnace.

He said flames did not damage any of the vehicles, which included large RVs, campers, boats and antique automobiles, but there was a lot of thick black smoke throughout the building for a couple of hours and that may have caused some damage. “That stuff can get into anything,” McAllister said. The chief also said a fuel oil line to the furnace ruptured and was spilling oil from a 30,000-gallon underground tank. Some of that oil got outside the building, and officials with the state Agency of Natural Resources were at the park on Monday to meet with Cummings.

“We are assessing the amount of cleanup today,” Cummings said, estimating that only a small amount of oil made it outside the building. The northern end of the affected building where most of the vehicles are stored, is about 65,000 square feet, said Cummings, who owns the park with Hunter Banbury. The entire storage area is around 90,000 square feet, he said. McAllister said the call started out as a “box alarm” but ended up going to a second alarm, bringing in departments from West Windsor, Ascutney, Springfield, Hartland and Hartford. Cummings said the park will replace the furnace and the sprinkler system.

Chicago, IL – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling blaze at mattress warehouse

Additional crews were called to a fire Monday night at a mattress factory in the Canaryville neighborhood on the South Side.   Firefighters responded shortly after 8:30 p.m. to the fire at the mattress at 4041 Emerald Ave., according to the Chicago Fire Department. Crews were battling the fire from the outside of the building, eventually putting it out by 10:49 p.m.  The block-long building was a “large warehouse” with a heavy fire load as mattresses caught on fire, the fire department said. It had a sprinkler system which helped put out the fire as a fire engine fed it with water.  The building remained structurally sound with only damage to the mattresses on the inside, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.