Tag Archives: Utah

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Sandy, UT – Fire sprinklers help put out fire after tractor-trailer full of fireworks caught on fire;No injuries reported

A tractor-trailer, parked at a loading dock at a Smith’s in Sandy and filled with fireworks, caught fire Thursday morning.

Crews responded to the fire near 2000 East and 9400 South just after one a.m.

Investigators said the cause of the fire is suspicious.

“Concerning, definitely, there are some things that are suspicious about it,” said Ryan McConaghie, Deputy Chief of the Sandy City Fire Department.

Firefighters said the fire didn’t start in the trailer. It appears it started underneath and they could see several wood pallets stacked under the trailer when they arrived.

“That fire spread into the tractor-trailer box that they found out was full of fireworks,” McConaghie said. “Started the fireworks and started burning in the interior that opened up through the aluminum roof of that tractor-trailer and then it spread into the Smith’s building loading dock area and that actuated the fire sprinklers that helped put out the fire on the inside.”

FOX 13 viewer, Ben Perry, captured the fire just moments after it began with his cell phone. Perry said he was driving home from work when he noticed the huge cloud of smoke and called 911. He said he stayed on scene until firefighters arrived.

“There were fireworks that were exploding and you could hear it in the radio traffic coming out the top of that trailer and I’m sure into the loading dock into the Smith’s area,” McConaghie said. “So probably kind of exciting for the first ten minutes or so.”

A handful of employees were inside Smith’s and they evacuated. There were no injuries.

Investigators will comb through the evidence and check security cameras and other evidence in order to determine the cause of the fire.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Provo, UT – FIre inside storage cabinet stopped by fire sprinklers inside BYU campus building

Firefighters responded to a fire in the Ezra Taft Benson building this morning. The fire had already been contained when they arrived.

Public Information Officer Captain Sam Armstrong said Provo Fire and Rescue received a call from BYU at 10:53 a.m. saying hydrogen was on fire.

Armstrong said the department sent firefighters from multiple stations in case of the fire being a catastrophic event. “We would rather be prepared and send everybody than be behind the ball and try and play catch up.”

Armstrong was unable to confirm exactly what it was that had caught on fire, but he said the fire was contained in a storage cabinet that had a fire suppression sprinkler inside it.

When Provo Fire and Rescue arrived, it found the fire suppression sprinkler had already put the fire out. Firefighters then worked with BYU Engineering to help shut down the water system so the water didn’t cause damage.

Apartment Building, Residential

St. George, UT – Sprinkler system extinguishes third floor apartment fire; No injuries reported

A structure fire that started in the kitchen of a three-story apartment displaced the tenants of two of the apartments and garnered the interest of more than 40 residents as firefighters tended to a chaotic scene Sunday evening.

Shortly after 8 p.m., firefighters responded to a fire alarm activation at the Oasis Palms apartment complex on Dixie Drive involving a structure fire that reportedly started in the kitchen area, St. George Fire Battalion Chief Robert Hooper said.

“We were paged out on the fire alarm at first,” Hooper said. “When 911 received a call from someone in the complex reporting they saw smoke coming from one of the third-floor apartments a few minutes later, we did an all-out page for all staff.”

The tenants were safely evacuated by the time the first engine arrived on scene. Crews encountered a fire alarm that continued ringing and smoke coming from the upstairs apartment, while a small crowd was gathered outside after exiting their apartments when the alarm sounded.

Firefighters entered to find that any active flames were already extinguished by an automatic sprinkler system installed throughout the complex. As the water continued to spray from the sprinkler, Hooper said, it ran into the unit located directly below on the second floor of the complex.

Shortly thereafter, the fire alarm and sprinkler system were deactivated and fire crews checked for any burning material and began the process of removing a large amount of water from both units.

Both apartments sustained “heavy, heavy water damage,” Hooper said, as well as smoke and fire damage. So much so, that both apartments were left uninhabitable until repairs could be completed, leaving the two families displaced.

The American Red Cross was contacted and responded to the scene to provide emergency shelter and provisions to the tenants displaced by the blaze.

Hooper said the fire appeared to have started near the stove.

“It looks like it started with a cooking fire, possibly grease,” he said. “But it was obviously hot enough to activate the sprinkler system.”

He went on to say that as a fire burns and gets hotter, the heat melts the wax plug placed over the head of the sprinkler, and once it completely melts away, the sprinkler automatically turns on, which is what happened Sunday.

No injuries were reported and an estimate of the damage was not yet available at the scene.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Cedar City, UT – Fire sprinkler contains fire at plastics manufacturer

Firefighters from multiple agencies responded Saturday afternoon to a fire at a plastics manufacturing plant in Cedar City.

Genpak, at 2791 Highway 56, produces styrofoam plates for use in restaurants.

Crews were called at 1:43 p.m. after the fire was discovered in the plant’s 20,000-square-foot storage building, which holds “huge rolls of plastic, floor to ceiling,” Cedar City Fire Chief Mike Phillips told Gephardt Daily.

Employees evacuated through the front door of the building and, after a few moments of not being certain that everyone had made it out safely, the facility’s manager informed fire crews that everyone was accounted for.

“That was a relief and made our job easier,” Phillips said.

The major concern was that the area where the fire occurred contains highly flammable materials.

“If we had opened the door to the storage area, the additional oxygen would have caused the fire to spread through the whole structure,” Phillips said. “So we waited to get aerials (trucks) and pressurized the sprinkler system. The sprinkler system did its job.”

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Salt Lake City, UT – Sprinkler system helps contain fire at commercial business

A fire broke out at the International Center late Friday night located at 5281 Harold Gatty Drive on Friday night.

The commercial building was said to contain a large number of paper products, according to Salt Lake City Fire Department. Firefighters first responded to the location due to a water flow alarm going off but when they arrived they saw a fire broke out. The sprinkler system helped contain the flames before crews arrived.

“In a large industrial area like this, it’s not common for us to get a fire and get a quick notice on it,” Adam Archuleta with Salt Lake City Fire told 2News. “If you do hear alarms activated or you do see strobe lights on buildings, that’s usually an indication there has been an alarm drop, so that would be helpful to notify us so we can investigate that.”

The building was reported to be empty at the time of the fire.

Investigators are currently determining the cause of the fire.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

Ogden, UT – Warehouse fire controlled by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

Crews from multiple fire departments were at the scene of a fire in a commercial warehouse in Ogden early Saturday morning.

Firefighters were dispatched at 2:42 a.m. to 2048 Washington Blvd.

The blaze caused Washington Boulevard to be closed to traffic from 20th to 21st Street, and the public was asked to avoid the area.

“Crews are working to vertically ventilate the structure. Crews continue to work to extinguish the fire inside the building. The building has a working sprinkler system that deployed prior to fire department arrival,” the department tweeted.

Firefighters were supplementing the structure’s sprinkler system through the fire department connection, and everything was under control at 3:47 a.m.

By 3:50 a.m., the fire was out and crews were continuing ventilation and performing overhaul procedures. Loss Stop benchmark established at 4:01 a.m., the tweet said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined and is under investigation by the Fire Marshal.

There were no injuries as a result of this fire.

Thirty firefighters from Ogden City, Roy City, and Riverdale Fire Departments are on scene, OFD tweeted.

Storage / Warehouse, Warehouse

St. George, UT – Warehouse fire stopped by fire sprinkler system; No injuries reported

The St. George Fire Department was called to Dixie Metal Recycling after a fire broke out in the warehouse just before noon.

According to Chief Robert Stoker, fire crews arrived in Fort Pierce Industrial Park just off of 1630 East to find the warehouse and office building full of smoke.

Employees were using a mobile, gas-powered cutoff saw inside the shop to cut what appeared to be copper pipes, Stoker said. Sparks from the saw ignited into flames after they entered nearby barrels full of shooting cartridges and bullet casings turned into the business by a shooting range. Stoker said employees were unaware of the contents of the barrels.

Four sprinkler heads activated and extinguished the fire prior to the crews’ arrival. Stoker said firefighters were able to clear the smoke, turn off the fire suppression system and overhaul the debris and surrounding area to ensure the fire was completely extinguished.

Stoker said all of the sprinklers were not activated because each head has its own temperature gauge.

“Rather than the whole sprinkler system going off, it will only fuse those heads in that area, and those sprinklers will turn on where they will supply water downward toward the water,” he said.

Businesses like Dixie Metal Recycling are required to have sprinkler systems and insulation because of the “hazardous nature of what they do,” Stoker said.

The majority of the shop remained dry, except for the area involved in the fire, which had water on the ground. There was minimal damage to the shop’s ceiling and walls due to the flames.

A Gold Cross Ambulance was available, but no injuries were reported and employees on scene refused medical treatment.

Apartment Building, Residential

Salt Lake City, UT – Sprinkler system puts out oil fire at apartment complex; No injuries reported

Crews responded to a report of  an oil fire at an apartment in the Avenues area of Salt Lake City Thursday evening.

“Fire crews responded to a fire alarm at 150 E. 1st Ave. with reports of flames,” said a tweet from Salt Lake City Fire Department at 8 p.m. “Upon arrival sprinkler activation had extinguished an oil fire on a cooking range.”

No one was injured as a result of the fire.

“Crews are assisting in shutting off the sprinkler and will be clearing shortly,” the tweet said.

Place of Worship

Cedar City, UT – Kitchen fire in LDS chapel is “mostly extinguished” by automatic sprinkler system

The fire department was called out around 4:40 p.m. by an alarm company that notified dispatch that the inside sprinklers had been activated in an LDS chapel located on 3800 West Cody Drive.  “We get false alarms all the time,” Phillips said. “But this time, it was that the sprinklers had gone off, so it was either that one of the sprinklers broke or there was a fire, and we haven’t had enough cold days for the pipes to freeze. So, when I got here I circled the building, did my 360 and there wasn’t any smoke. Then I gained access inside and there was the smoke.”  The sprinklers largely extinguished the flames before crews even arrived on scene.  “The sprinklers did exactly what they were supposed to do. They keep the fire in check until we get there and put it out,” Phillips said. “There was a little bit of smoldering that the crews had to deal with but that’s it.”  The fire originated in the kitchen, but the cause is still under investigation.

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Logan, UT – Fire extinguished at nursing home after help from sprinkler system

An air conditioning unit that sparked a blaze in a resident’s bed led to some injuries during the evacuation of a nursing home Friday.

An employee at Rocky Mountain Care, 1480 N. 400 East, discovered the fire about 6:40 p.m. and helped the female resident out of the bed and into the hallway, said Craig Humphreys, assistant chief and fire marshal of the Logan Fire Department. The resident was taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Humphrey’s credited the employee for saving the woman’s life.

Another employee attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher as the building’s sprinkler system activated, he said.

Evacuations were underway as firefighters arrived. With help of the sprinkler system, crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire, Humphreys said. Firefighters then worked to ventilate smoke and remove water from the building.

The fire destroyed the mattress but the fire was confined to one room, he said.

A woman who fell during the evacuation was taken to the hospital as a precaution, he said. Three employees were treated at the scene for possible smoke inhalation.

Humphreys said investigators determined the fire to be accidental. He said the fire started because the bed was pushed up against the electrical cord on the window-mounted air conditioning unit.