Damage was limited to the building’s exterior after an automatic sprinkler system knocked down a fire that appears to have started with in a bucket of oily rags outside the Puerto Vallarta restaurant in Kingston early Sept. 12.

A fire alarm and a call from a Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy initiated a large commercial structure fire response to the Highway 104 business.

Crews arrived less than four minutes after the 3:40 a.m. dispatch, and firefighters found a small blaze on the building’s loading dock that had been mostly snuffed by the sprinkler system. Crews finished extinguishing the fire.

An investigator from the Kitsap County Fire Marshal’s Office responded and determined that the fire likely originated in a bucket of oil-soaked rags.

According to research by the National Fire Protection Association, fire sprinklers can lower the risk of property loss by as much as 70%. NFPA recommends that oily rags be placed in a metal container filled with water and detergent, and capped with a tight-fitting lid.

Units responded from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Poulsbo Fire Department and Puget Sound Federal Fire Department at Subase Bangor.