Tag Archives: Nebraska

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Lincoln, NE – Overnight fire at metal finishing company held in check with help from sprinkler system

Lincoln Fire and Rescue said nobody was injured in an early morning fire in southwest Lincoln.  LFR responded to a fire at Lincoln Industries just after 2 a.m. Thursday. Fire officials said boxes in an area that holds chemicals were on fire. A sprinkler system helped keep the fire in check and fire crews were able to put the rest out.

LFR told 10/11 situations like this are a challenge because of hazardous materials. Crews have to be careful about water runoff. Employees at the plant were able to evacuate safely and even helped fire crews in making their efforts a success.  The fire did shut down south Folsom from D to Rosa Parks, but it has since reopened.

Investigators are now working to determine the cause of the fire.  Lincoln Industries bills itself as the largest and most diverse privately-held metal finishing company in North America.

Apartment Building, Residential

Omaha, NE – Sprinkler system assists firefighters in controlling apartment fire

Authorities are investigating a fire at an apartment complex. It broke out around 10 o’clock Wednesday morning. It happened at the Park West Apartments near 108th and Jaynes Plaza, near Fort Street.  There were no reports of injuries but utility service was partly interrupted on a frigid morning.  Firefighters initially responded to an automatic fire alarm system. They arrived to find a small fire in a coat closet in a third floor apartment.   The fire was quickly brought under control but it triggered the sprinkler system resulting in damage to the first, second and third floor apartments.  Residents were allowed back into the building shortly before noon.

Apartment Building, Residential

Scottsbluff, NE – Arson fire at apartment building contained by newly installed sprinkler system; No injuries

A new fire alarm and sprinkler system played a part in containing fire damage to a minimum at Eastwood Apartments in Scottsbluff. At around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Scottsbluff Fire Department received a call of a fire alarm going off at Eastwood Apartments. Fortunately the building was recently remodeled with a properly functioning alarm and fire suppression system. The fire started inside of a first floor apartment on the north side of the building. According to Scottsbluff Fire Marshal Anthony Murphy, the fire was intentionally set but no further details can be disclosed at this time.

The resident of the apartment had left shortly before the alarm went off. The apartment now suffers water damage. The sprinkler in the apartment was the only one to go off, containing the fire in the unit. “When the crews made entry into to the room that had the fire, there were a bunch of clothing articles that were burning and it definitely was put out mostly by the fire suppression sprinklers,” said Murphy.

All building residents were evacuated at the time of the fire and nobody was injured. Scottsbluff Fire Department was assisted by Gering Fire Department and Valley Ambulance. The cause of the fire is still currently under investigation, the cost of damages is also unknown.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Omaha, NE – Sprinkler system extinguishes overnight fire at furniture warehouse

Omaha firefighters found lots of smoke Friday morning while investigating reports of a fire inside a furniture warehouse.

An alarm company alerted the fire department to the situation around 2:30 a.m., said firefighters, letting crews know an alarm was going off inside a building near 31st and Spaulding streets.

Fire investigators said a plastic container inside a box caught fire. The building’s sprinkler system extinguished the flames before crews arrived at at the scene.

It’s unclear what caused the box to catch fire.

Other - Residential, Residential

Hastings, NE – Early morning fire at homeless shelter controlled by sprinkler system; No injuries

Those living in a Hastings homeless shelter were displaced overnight following a fire early Wednesday morning. The Hastings Fire Department says they were called to the Crossroads Rescue Center just after midnight. Smoke could be seen in the building as fire crews arrived.

Staff said all 87 people were out and uninjured when fire crews arrived. The fire was found in the north basement of the building. Hastings Fire Chief Kent Gilbert says the sprinkler system was able to keep the fire from spreading much before firefighters arrived.

Hastings Rural and Juniata Rural firefighters also responded. While crews were working on extinguishing the fire in the basement, others assisted with searching the other floors and reducing smoke damage with ventilation. Part of 14th Street was closed for more than two hours because of the fire.

Adams County Emergency Management was called to the scene to assist with relocating the residents displaced by the fire. The fire department says most were relocated to 20 rooms in the C3 Hotel.

A state fire marshal determined the fire was started accidentally when bedding came in contact with a heater. Wednesday, the shelter was cleaning up after returning to the building around 8 a.m.

“We have great guests here at Crossroads. Everybody pitched in, especially the men, just pitched in. We took up flooring. We cleaned up soot. We took out burnt items. Probably by noon we were mainly cleaned up,” said Crossroads Program Director Daniel Buller.

Buller said the damage is mostly contained to the basement laundry room where the fire started, but work continues to help prevent mold. He said insurance should cover the damage, but the need for things like food and toiletries at the shelter is ongoing.

The estimated cost of the damage is not yet known.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Scottsbluff, NE – Overnight fire in attic of senior care home extinguished by sprinkler system

Scottsbluff Fire Capt. Dan Hubbs said firefighters responded to an alarm the Golden Living Center at about 1:30 a.m. Occupants reported smelling smoke and staff evacuated the wing. A fire was found in the attic space above the chapel area at the fire. The sprinkler system had activated and the fire was extinguished quickly. The cause of the fire has been determined to be electrical in nature.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Omaha, NE – Sprinkler system activates to help limit damage in overnight restaurant fire

A fire early Wednesday in the kitchen of an Old Market restaurant did not appear to cause significant damage. But the blaze set off smoke alarms and a sprinkler system and forced the evacuation of a nearby nightclub, according to initial 911 dispatch reports.

Roja Mexican Grill, 1212 Harney St., was closed when the fire was reported about 12:30 a.m. Police helped evacuate people from Parliament Pub.

Other Business, Place of Worship

Lincoln, NE – Fire in church kitchen limited by sprinkler system

A Lincoln church is once again picking up the pieces after a three-alarm blaze damaged part of its new building. But Tuesday’s fire wasn’t as devastating as the one nine years ago that consumed Zion Church.  “Honestly, it seems ridiculously surreal,” the Rev. Stu Kerns said. “There’s just no other word for it.”

A fire in an oven in the kitchen of the old church near downtown Lincoln gutted the entire structure in 2007. “As soon as it came in it was like, incredible, what bad luck for these folks, you know? Your heart goes out to them,” Fire Battalion Chief Jim Bopp said.

Kerns said they are thankful that no one was hurt in Tuesday’s fire or the one nine years ago. A sprinkler system confined the damage on Tuesday mostly to the kitchen area. The worship hall and a new 7,000-square-foot expansion area were undamaged.

“It worked perfectly,” Kerns said. “The fire doors closed, the sprinklers went off. He shakes us up to make us focus in on what’s real and true and important. I’m going to look at that as a gift. It doesn’t feel like a gift right now, but I’m going to look on that as a gift.”

Storage / Warehouse

Omaha, NE – Warehouse fire contained by sprinkler system; Portions of business re-open same day

The Nebraska Furniture Mart is open for business with some restricted access in the aftermath of a Sunday morning fire.  A Mart spokesperson tells WOWT 6 News that the flooring warehouse is closed. That’s where people pick up flooring.

All main roads were opened at 10 a.m. Sunday.  Gordman’s shares some of the space involved. The full extent of the damage is still being tallied.  All of this follows a small fire in the Furniture Mart warehouse Sunday morning.

It happened just after seven o’clock Sunday inside the wood and tile warehouse at NFM and took about 40 minutes to contain, according to an Omaha Fire Department official.

Batallion Chief Kathy Bossman said crews were initially called to NFM for a “water flow alarm” which typically indicates that the sprinkler system has been activated. Crews noticed smoke and then observed that it began to change colors, becoming a darker gray. She said crews then discovered that wooden pallets inside the warehouse caught fire.

“There was a little bit of delay because the pallets were beginning to crumble a little bit so we had to move pallets to really get all of the fire extinguished,” said Chief Bossman.

Bossman said wood flooring in addition to the wood pallets burned. No one was inside the building at the time, and there were no injuries. Chief Bossman said there was no structural damage to the building but there was some damage to contents inside.

Omaha fire eventually turned the scene over to Furniture Mart personnel for clean-up. They removed burned debris from the building and stacked it in the parking lot.

Apartment Building, Residential

Lincoln, NE – Kitchen fire in downtown loft apartments controlled with help from sprinklers; No injuries

At least one person was displaced Thursday after a small fire at a building on 8th and Q in downtown Lincoln. According to Lincoln Fire & Rescue, the fire started in the kitchen of a loft on the third floor of Arena Lofts.

“In the initial phases we were sent here on a regular box alarm with one engine one truck,” said Capt. Lloyd Mueller, acting Batallion Chief. “We identified that they did have smoke conditions stating that there was a fire in one of the apartments we’ve upgraded the alarms to a second alarm due to the occupancy and the people that are living up above.”

LFR found it was a small fire that started in the kitchen. It is still under investigation whether it was the stove top or a kitchen appliance. “Right now we have a lot of water damage just through the sprinkler system activation,” said Mueller. “So the fire was great enough it did…signal the sprinklers to activate.”

According to LFR, there was nobody in the apartment where the fire started. “A lot of the residents are not around so we’re still trying to get a hold of them and let them know,” said Mueller. Mueller said there was one resident who was displaced. “This is a brand new apartment building so they’re being renovated,” he said.

According to one of the employees with the clean up crew, water damage affected about six apartments and a cigar shop below. Most of the water damage was from the sprinklers.

“We put a very small amount of water on the fire itself due to the sprinklers activation,” said Mueller, “…the water damage is just shutting down the system…getting the water to drain out of the pipes and getting it to not go into the building but outside the building.”

Mueller said the Red Cross and the Chaplain were called out to help those who were displaced.

 

There was no damage to the Twin Peaks restaurant below.

 

Mueller said they had a few animals they protected and put in a safe room in the apartments.