Tag Archives: Morning (7am-12pm)

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Office Building, Other Business

Portland, ME – Fire in storage room of commercial building put out by sprinkler system

Firefighters are crediting a building’s sprinkler system with quickly extinguishing a fire Thursday morning on Commercial Street. Officials said a witness reported seeing smoke coming out of a basement window in a building at the corner of Commercial and Center Streets. The fire was confined to a storage room, but was mostly out by the time crews arrived. Officials could not immediately say what started the fire. No injuries were reported.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Pekin, IL – Sprinklers hold arson fire in check at popular restaurant and tavern

An employee of a popular restaurant and tavern allegedly asked another for advice on how to set it on fire — now he is charged with arson.

The combination of flaming stove burners and cooking oil, left atop the stove and spread on walls, caused minor damage to Goodfellas Pub & Pizza on Wednesday, though the business remained closed Monday.

That obvious evidence of arson and his own statements led police on Friday to arrest Scott Sutherland, 34, of Pekin. He was charged in bonding court Sunday and remained in custody Monday on $10,000 bond.

Sutherland’s alleged plan to destroy the business at 1414 N. Eighth St. “didn’t work out the way he thought it would,” Pekin Deputy Fire Chief Brian Cox said Monday. Cooking oil “is not very flammable.”

Sutherland, a bartender and cook, told a fellow employee sometime before the fire “about moving to Texas and burning the business down,” and asked her if she knew how to set it on fire, according to a prosecutor’s court affidavit.

Loud and electronic alarms set off by a sprinkler system alerted an officer in the area of the North Eighth Street Plaza, where Goodfellas is located, and firefighters to the smoldering flames in the business shortly before noon.

While other businesses in the plaza were evacuated, the sprinklers kept the fire “in check until we got there,” Cox said.  Firefighters discovered that all of the restaurant’s kitchen burners had been left on full blast, as well as its broiler and a fryer, the affidavit stated. A box of cooking oil sat on one of the burners, while more oil was smeared on walls where evidence of fire also was found.

Sutherland allegedly prepared what he thought would turn into a huge blaze more than six hours earlier, after the business closed for the night.

The restaurant’s security video equipment was missing, but video from another security system in the area recorded a man identified as Sutherland in the building between 4 and 5 a.m., “holding electronic equipment and pouring a substance on hallway walls,” the affidavit stated.  

Several employees said Sutherland was the last worker to leave Goodfellas the night before the fire and had keys to the business, the affidavit stated.

Sutherland told police Friday that he didn’t remember setting the fire and didn’t do so on purpose, but thought it might have been “a drunken mistake,” the affidavit stated.

He said he had returned to the business after closing to retrieve his apartment keys. He slipped on grease on the kitchen floor and bumped the stove, but didn’t think he turned it on.

 

Residential, Single Family Home

Santa Rosa Beach, FL – House fire caused by lightening strike limited by sprinkler system

… The third call was for a reported direct lightning strike of a home on Dill Ave in the Rosemary Beach area. Crews were able to contain the fire damage to the attic. The home’s sprinkler system also helped limit the damage. All of the structures were occupied when lightning hit, but no injuries were reported.

There were no immediate damage estimates. The Bay County Fire Department and Destin Fire Control District provided mutual aid.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Cincinnati, OH – Sprinkler system keeps fire from spreading at woodworking operation

Cincinnati firefighters say a sprinkler system helped keep a fire at a Linwood business from spreading. Crews were called to Wine Cellar Innovations in the 4500 block of Eastern Avenue just before 8:30 a.m. after workers witnessed smoke and fire coming from one of the company’s large dust collection/air filtration systems.

Firefighters encountered heavy smoke conditions on the manufacturing floor of a large industrial woodworking operation, but found the sprinkler system keeping the fire in check, CFD said. All the fire was contained to the sawdust within the hopper, CFD said. Firefighters had a hard time getting to the fire and were on scene for about four hours disassembling the machinery to ensure they had it completely out.

The majority of operations at the facility are now back up and operating, the fire department said. No injuries were reported.  Damage was estimated at $15,000.

Other Business, Place of Worship

South Whitehall, PA – Fire at synagogue controlled by sprinkler system

Emergency crews responded to a small fire at Temple Beth El in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County Sunday afternoon. The fire was reported at the synagogue – located in the 1300 block of Springhouse Road – around 7:30 a.m., according to county officials.

Crews on scene say the fire broke out in the rear of the building and was contained to a small maintenance room, which suffered smoke damage and minor water damage. Luckily, officials say the building’s sprinkler system was functioning properly and kept the fire from spreading throughout the rest of the building.

The fire did go to a second alarm, but only due to the size of the structure and the temperature outside. No one was inside the synagogue when the flames broke out, and no injuries were reported. Investigators are still looking into what may have sparked this fire.

Apartment Building, Residential

New Brighton, MN – Sprinklers prevent apartment blaze from spreading; No injuries

The New Brighton Department of Public Safety responded to the report of a fire at an apartment building in New Brighton last week.

Emergency responders were dispatched to the 600 block of Old Highway 8 N.W. after the building’s fire alarm sounded around 11:25 a.m. April 15.

When the fire engines arrived, crews found the remnants of a fire in an apartment on the third floor.

After gaining entry to the apartment, firefighters determined the building’s sprinkler system had controlled and nearly extinguished the fire completely and prevented the blaze from spreading further.

“The presence of a working fire-suppression sprinkler along with a properly working building fire alarm system saved significant property damage and potentially saved many lives,” the public safety department said in a statement.

According to the city officials, the cause of the fire is not believed to be suspicious.

There were no injuries as a result of this incident.

City fire crews added reminders to residents to clean out dryer vents routinely, and to make sure smoke detectors are functioning properly.

Apartment Building, Residential

Prescott Valley, AZ – Sprinkler system credited with stopping potentially serious residential fire

A sprinkler system is credited with extinguishing a potentially serious unattended kitchen fire on Friday, May 20, Central Arizona Fire Division Chief Rick Chase said.

The fire started about 11 a.m., when fire crews were called to investigate an active sprinkler system in one unit of a two-story four-plex in the 4000 block of Viewpoint Drive. The residents were not home when the water began flowing but came home to find that it had turned on, Chase said.

“What (firefighters) found was a box on the stove that had a bunch of food, trash and stuff in it and it had caught fire,” Chase said. “The sprinkler put it out.”

Because the flames ignited when no one was home, he said, there was a possibility that a major fire could have resulted.

Home sprinkler systems are a good idea, he added, and they don’t work as some people believe.

“That’s kind of one of the myths that people have,” Chase said, “’I don’t want to flood my whole house,’ (but) only the sprinkler head where the heat activate it and pops that bulb is what activates. This head happened to be in the kitchen, closest to the stove, and was able to put it out.

“The moral was that it prevented the fire from spreading.”

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Fort Wayne, IN – No injuries as sprinkler system extinguishes fire at nursing home

About 50 people at a Parnell Avenue nursing home had to be evacuated after a fire sparked in a patient’s room late Tuesday morning.

Shortly after 11 a.m., crews were called to 3811 Parnell Ave. at the Glenbrook Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center.

When crews arrived, they found heavy smoke coming from a patient’s room and an exterior door.

Crews said the sprinkler system had put out the fire.

All residents were evacuated, and they have all been moved back into the building.

Around 11:17 p.m., firefighters were able to get the fire under control.

No one was injured.

A representative with American Senior communities released a statement:

This morning at Glenbrook Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center there was a small fire isolated to one room. We are proud of the staff who reacted quickly, and as a result, there were no injuries. All residents are safe and were able to return to the building within 30 minutes after evacuation.

We are working with the Ft. Wayne Fire Department to determine the cause.”

Other / Not Specified, Other Business

Sandusky, OH – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in containing fire to building’s elevator shaft

Roofers inadvertently sparked a small fire inside the Feick Contractor Building just after 9:15 a.m. last Wednesday.  Sandusky firefighters responded to Hancock and East Water streets, near Civista Bank’s downtown branch, where they saw white smoke billowing from an elevator shaft.

A ladder truck lifted several firefighters atop the structure’s roof, where they extinguished the fire. With help from an automated sprinkler system, activating before firefighters arrived, first responders quickly neutralized the situation.

“The fire started when (the roofers) were trying to attach some rubber flashing around the roof so it would adhere to glue,” Sandusky fire Chief Dave Degnan said. “We’re investigating it right now, but we’re leaning toward roofers just heating up the wood and starting the fire.”

The fire didn’t spread beyond the elevator shaft. People residing in an adjacent apartment, meanwhile, shouldn’t fret about their living situation, Degnan said.  “I don’t believe anyone is going to be displaced,” Degnan said.  Additionally, it doesn’t appear anyone sustained any injuries as a result of the fire.