Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Watsonville, CA – Sprinkler activates to help control possible arson fire at auto body shop

Authorities investigated a small, Sunday night fire in the doorway on the first block of East Lake Avenue as an arson, Watsonville fire and police officials said.

About 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a structure fire at Auto Tech Auto Body at 18 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville police Sgt. David Rodriguez said. Officers responded to the scene to confirm the fire and firefighters arrived shortly after to extinguish it.

A door to the business was on fire but firefighters doused it within 5 minutes, Watsonville fire Capt. Rick Pettigrew said. Though there was no fire damage inside the building, a sprinkler system was set off by the heat.  Initial investigations showed the fire started at the door, leading investigators to believe someone started the fire.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

McAlester, OK – Fire contained by sprinkler system at plastics manufacturing business

The Krebs Volunteer Fire Department also responded to a second fire was at Berry Plastics, 349 Taylor Industrial Park Road.  A fire broke out in a printing press at the business.

“I don’t know exactly how it started,” Brewer said. “The fire was contained to one of their printing presses. There were no injuries that we know of. The sprinkler system activated and our fire crews made sure everything else was extinguished.”

Other Business, Recycling / Waste Facility

Worcester, MA – Cardboard fire at recycling center held in check by sprinkler system

With mutual aid from the Sutton Fire Department, the Worcester Fire Department easily contained and knocked down a smoldering fire in a huge pile of cardboard Tuesday at Rand-Whitney Recycling, 2 Pullman St.

Deputy Fire Chief John Sullivan credited Sutton Fire Department’s Mobile Ventilation Unit-LD, a hydraulic blower capable of pushing up to 150,000 cubic feet per minute from its blades, with greatly assisting Worcester Fire in taking control of the scene.

In addition, Mr. Sullivan said the building’s sprinkler system did its job and held the fire in check.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Oakley, CA – Sprinklers keep fire from spreading at senior apartment complex

An automatic indoor sprinkler system kept a fire at an apartment complex for seniors from spreading, and fire personnel were able to evacuate residents before anybody was seriously injured, a fire chief said.

Fire Chief Hugh Henderson of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District said fire crews were called to the blaze at 4:18 p.m. and found light smoke coming from a hallway in the complex. Automatic sprinklers kept the fire contained to one room within a unit.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Murfreesboro, TN – Sprinkler system activates during fire at senior living center

Murfreesboro Fire & Rescue Department’s Districts 4, 6, and 8 and Engines 1 and 7 responded to a fire call at Adams Place Independent Living located at 1925 Memorial Boulevard around 12:00 Monday afternoon.

Dispatch reported that there had been a small fire in a bathroom in a unit on the second floor and that the sprinkler system was activated. When units arrived on scene, the fire was out and maintenance had turned off the sprinkler system. No one was injured during the incident.

 

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

San Leandro, CA – Sprinkler contains fire at manufacturer of shielding materials

The fire was reported around 7:45 p.m. at Nelco, a lead shielding manufacturer at 1840 Williams St., according to the Alameda County Fire Department.

Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the building and called a second alarm. The fire was contained within 30 to 40 minutes, and fire damage was limited to the area of origin, due to operation of a sprinkler head.

Firefighters had difficulty entering the building due to security modifications.  No injuries were reported.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Greenville, MI – Fire at plastics compounding business quickly extinguished with help from sprinkler system

Firefighters from the Greenville Department of Public Safety responded at 5:20 p.m. Thursday to a structure fire at West Michigan Compounding, located at 1300 Moore St. in Greenville.

According to Greenville Department of Public Safety Sgt. Brian Blomstrom, during routine cleaning, a hot ember escaped into the ventilation system, starting a fire that was quickly extinguished due to a combination of the company’s sprinkler system and a quick response time from fire fighters. No one was injured.

Other Business

New York City, NY – Sprinkler system helps control fire at American Museum of Natural History

The blaze started when maintenance workers were using a blow torch to repair an AC unit on the outside of the building’s first floor around 3:30 p.m.  One of the unit’s filters caught fire, sending clouds of thick, black smoke circulating into the hall of Northwest Coast Indians, the FDNY said.

Several artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History suffered minor damage when a fire on the outside of the building sent smoke circulating inside, activating the emergency sprinkler system, officials said.

Schiralli said three or four thousand people self evacuated from the Museum while firefighters went to work extinguishing the blaze.

The extent of the damage to the artifacts was not immediately clear but museum staff insisted the they would be open for business as usual on Saturday.

 

 

Residential, Townhouse / Condominium

Langley, BC, Canada – Sprinker system credited with containing townhouse kitchen fire

 fire that started on the stove of a Walnut Grove townhouse on Thursday might have done far more damage than it did, if not for the presence of a working sprinkler system.

Pat Walker, assistant fire chief with the Township of Langley said the blaze started after a pot used to sterilize rubber nipples for baby bottles was accidentally left heating on the stove when the family went out.

“They left the house and thought they had turned (the burner) off, but it boiled dry,” said Walker. Eventually the nipples caught fire and ignited plastic components inside the stove’s hood.

The flames had also melted a cabinet door and a plastic kettle on the counter before being doused. “It would have been a totally different scenario without the sprinkler,” said Walker.

Apartment Building, Residential

Layton, UT – Sprinkler system stops grease fire at apartment building

A mother and her three children should be able to move back into their apartment, with their possessions virtually intact after a fire last week, thanks to an automatic sprinkler system that held a grease fire to the stove top.

Layton fire crews were called to the fire at the Grayhawk Apartments, 2925 N. Church Street, where they found the woman standing outside her apartment building.

“Fire crews found water coming from the second story landing of the complex,” Bitton said. “They entered the apartment and found one activated fire sprinkler running above the stove top and charred remains of a pan with tortillas in the sink.”

Fire crews have seen numerous incidents where tenants would be displaced from their living space and their personal items and furnishing damaged beyond use without sprinkler systems, Bitton said.

“Although devastating for this mother and her children, they can reoccupy with no significant fire damage spread,”Bitton said.

The apartment complex’s sprinkler system is designed with a calibrated premix of glycerin to ensure there would be no freezing in the attic or breezeway areas, something Bitton said Layton fire officials are impressed with.

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