All posts by viking210

Residential, Single Family Home

Redding, CA – Fire sprinklers stop garage fire from spreading after batteries catch on fire; No injuries reported

Redding firefighters responded to a residential fire which they later learned was started by a failed RC car battery.

On Thursday, at 7:39 p.m., the Redding Fire Department (RFD) responded to a reported structure fire on Hollow Lane.

When firefighters arrived, they found a mostly extinguished fire within the garage of the home.

RFD says the homeowner and his family saw smoke and flames coming from the garage and reacted quickly with fire extinguishers and water hoses. The home also had an automatic fire sprinkler system which fire investigators say helped in keeping the fire from spreading.

After an investigation, RFD learned the fire was caused by failed rechargeable batteries used in RC cars. They say the battery was being charged when it failed, ignited and spread fire to the surrounding, plastic items on a shelving unit.

RFD says the garage suffered moderate to major fire and smoke damage, but due to the swift actions of the homeowner and the fire sprinkler system, fire was limited to the garage.

Nobody was injured in this incident.

Residential, Residential High Rise

Hagerstown, MD – Trash chute fire in high-rise complex for elderly and disabled residents extinguished by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

Smoke from a fire in a trash chute drove residents of Potomac Towers from their apartments Wednesday night, but no one was hurt and there was no serious damage to the building, authorities said.

The cause of the fire at the complex on West Baltimore Street in Hagerstown is under investigation, city Fire Marshal Doug DeHaven said.

Several residents who were exposed to smoke were evaluated at the scene by Community Rescue Service, but none required treatment, according to DeHaven and Hagerstown Fire Department Battalion Chief Adam Hopkins.

The complex consists of two connected, high-rise buildings that provide housing for elderly and disabled residents. The 14-story Potomac Towers North has 200 apartments and the eight-story Potomac Towers South has 126 units, according to the Hagerstown Housing Authority website.

Smoke was reported in the upper floors of the larger building around 8:20 p.m. and an alarm monitoring company reported smoke detectors activating on the seventh and 12th floors. Firefighters arrived to find smoke throughout the building, DeHaven said.

Trash stuck in the chute around the fifth floor was burning, but the sprinkler system in the chute activated and the debris slid down into the bin and compactor in the basement, he said.

“The sprinkler did its job and kept it as a contained fire that we were able to deal with quickly,” Hopkins said. “We would have had a much larger fire in the basement and a more significant smoke condition throughout the building.”

Firefighters extinguished the burning debris in the basement in about 10 to 15 minutes, he said, but were on the scene for a total of about two hours cleaning up water on the third and fifth floors and venting smoke from the building.

Some residents evacuated and others were permitted to go out onto their balconies to get away from the smoke, Hopkins said.

He estimated one group of about 25 people evacuated on one side of the building, and a group of about 40 people exited to the other side.

“We had a significant number of occupants who were affected by this fire,” DeHaven said.

Fire doors between the two buildings were closed, and the smaller building was not affected, Hopkins said.

DeHaven said damage was contained to the trash chute, compactor and bin, and water in the basement flowed into floor drains.

Responding with the Hagerstown Fire Department and Community Rescue Service were units from Funkstown Volunteer Fire Co.,  Halfway Volunteer Fire Co., Longmeadow Volunteer Fire Co., Maugansville Goodwill Volunteer Fire Co., Leitersburg Volunteer Fire Co. and the Washington County Special Operations and Emergency Air units, Hopkins said.

Airport, Other Business

New Orleans, LA – Fire sprinklers stop electrical fire at airport from spreading; No injuries reported

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Airport crews are assessing damage after a fire at the Armstrong Airport.

The fire started on the third floor of a terminal in an electrical room causing sprinklers to pour water on several other floors in the terminal, according to an airport representative.

Kenner Fire Department and on-site fire crews responded to the fire.

Airport leaders say they got the report of the fire at around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1.

The cause is still being investigated. No injuries were reported.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Murray, KY – Fire at window plant out out by fire sprinklers; No injuries reported

Major issues were avoided Tuesday morning when a fire occurred inside the Pella Window and Doors plant on Murray’s north side.

Calloway County Emergency Management Director Chesley Thomas said no injuries resulted after the fire was reported at about 10:45 a.m. He said the entire area was evacuated and all workers managed to leave the building without any problems.

“An all clear was given and we had nobody hurt, so they were allowing everybody back into the building,” said Thomas, who arrived at the scene after the fire had been extinguished. He said the fire began in one of the work zones of the plant. “But the sprinkler system did its job.”

Calloway County Fire-Rescue Chief Tommy Morgan said he was the third person from CCFR to arrive on the scene, behind two firefighters who came in their personal vehicles ahead of heavy response units from multiple stations throughout the county. He said that it is believed a Milwaukee battery charger may have developed a short while placed on a shelf, eventually igniting other nearby materials.

“All of the damage was contained to the shelf,” Morgan said. “There also just happened to be a sprinkler head right above it, so when it built up enough heat, that sprinkler came on and pretty much put everything out. We just went in and cleaned everything up a bit and packed everything out. There was still some stuff like paper and cardboard that was still smoldering a little bit, but everything was good, thank goodness.

“It’s been quiet for a long time on the fire side for us, so I was afraid this was going to be a big one, the way (Calloway County Sheriff’s Office dispatch) came out and said they actually had smoke showing.”

Morgan said CCFR has not had an actual building fire since October or November of 2019, but he said it has responded to several brush and woods blazes, as well as wrecks in that time. Even those calls, he said, have become fewer and farther between since mid-March when the COVID-19 pandemic basically brought things to a halt locally.

He said this was very noticeable Tuesday as he responded with his vehicle’s siren and emergency lights activated to Pella.

“I know a lot of people are still going and doing things, but I didn’t have near the trouble you normally do when you go out Fourth Street (in downtown Murray). That’s usually like a madhouse when you’re trying to go out on a call,” Morgan said. “I met like two or three cars. Normally, like I said, it’s a madhouse trying to get up there between meeting people and getting around people. It seems like people are staying in like they should be.”

Morgan said calls to respond to Pella happen every now and then and the vast majority are for false alarms. He said the last time he remembers a call being for an actual fire was in the early 2010s, shortly after he became chief, when an air conditioning unit on top of a warehouse building ignited, with CCFR units  extinguishing that fire.

Morgan said he believes seven or eight CCFR trucks did reach Pella Tuesday, with four or five others that responded, but were called back to their stations after it was determined that enough units were already on the scene. He said 25 to 30 firefighters responded to the call.

Apartment Building, Residential

Abilene, TX – Eighth-floor apartment cooking fire controlled by sprinkler system

Abilene firefighters responded Saturday to two structure fires, including one in a downtown high-rise building that activated the sprinkler system, according to news releases. 

At about 9:20 p.m., fire crews were called to The Windsor Apartment Homes in the 400 block of Pine Street. A small cooking fire in an eighth-floor apartment had triggered the apartment’s sprinkler system, the release said. 

“Once the fire extinguishment was confirmed, the fire department was able to shut off the sprinkler system to reduce the water damage,” the release said.

Water flowed down the hallway and also damaged nearby apartments, including at least one on the floor below, AFD spokeswoman Elise Roberts said.

Damages are estimated to be $5,000 due to the sprinkler activation, the release said. 

Apartment Building, Residential

Mt. Pleasant, WI – Fire sprinklers stop stove top fire from spreading in apartment; No injuries reported

No one was injured in a Sunday afternoon kitchen fire that aused an estimated $3,300 in damage at the Regency West Apartments in the 2300 block of Loni Lane.

At 2:45 p.m. Sunday, the Racine Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a fire in an upper apartment at 2328 Loni Lane, west of Highway 31, according to a Fire Department news release. Occupants were standing safely outside when firefighters arrived.

After arriving on scene, firefighters found an automatic fire sprinkler system spraying water from a single sprinkler head into the kitchen at the apartment, where a fire started on the stove top and had spread to the cabinets before the sprinkler system activated. A smoke alarm was sounding in the apartment.

Instead of battling what would most likely have been a fully involved apartment fire, firefighters had to merely turn off the main water control to the fire sprinkler system to stop further damage, Fire Department officials said.

The Red Cross was contacted to assist the four people in two apartments who were displaced due to the fire.

The tenants are expected to be able to return to their apartments within a few days.

The Fire Department said that lessons learned from the incident were:

  • Fire sprinklers likely saved tenants and an apartment building from a catastrophic fire loss.
  • Tenants involved in this fire did not have renter’s insurance, which would have helped protect them from the thousands of dollars of financial loss. Renter’s insurance also helps protect tenants from actions of neighbors, fire officials advised.
Other - Storage / Warehouse, Storage / Warehouse

Elkhart, IN – Sprinkler system contains fire after coach bus catches fire inside building; No injuries reported

Elkhart Fire Department responded to a fire inside the former Forest River plant at 914 CR 1, Elkhart on Monday afternoon.

A bus was on fire inside the plant, which Elkhart Coach moved into just three weeks ago. The fire department had to stretch about 200 feet of hose line to reach the building.

The fire was reported out around 4:30 p.m. No one was injured and employees were evacuated safely.

Dispatch confirms that the bus caught fire inside building, but no units inside were damaged. The sprinkler system contained the fire and firefighters put it out.

Apartment Building, Residential

Crescent City, CA – Fourth floor apartment fire knocked down by fire sprinkler

On Thursday, March 26th at 12:47 PM a fire broke out in a fourth-floor apartment at the Surf Apartments located at 108 H Street, Crescent City. Originally dispatched as a fire alarm sounding at the location, the response was quickly upgraded to a structure fire when dispatch advised there was smoke in an apartment on the fourth floor, and occupants were beginning to evacuate. On fire department arrival light smoke was seen coming from an apartment on the Front Street side of the building and the fire alarm system was sounding. There were some occupants already on the street in front of the building.

Crews entered the building for fire attack and search and encountered a number of residents in the hallways and still inside their rooms. The ladder truck was positioned with the ladder to the fire apartment. The fire attack crew found the apartment full of smoke, but the fire had been extinguished by one sprinkler head that activated in the bedroom where the fire had burned a laundry basket of clothing and began to burn the mattress next to it. Search efforts continued as additional occupants were removed or sheltered in place on lower floors away from the fire location. The sprinkler system was shut down, smoke was removed from the building, and crews worked to protect property from water damage. The building electrical was also shutoff. Unfortunately, 12 occupants were displaced by the fire and subsequent water damage to apartments next to and below the fire apartment.

Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services assisted with Red Cross to temporarily house the 12 displaced occupants. Property management on scene was coordinating with an electrician to restore power to the undamaged apartments. Cleaning resources were also being brought in for water removal.

In addition to the three engines, one ladder truck, one rescue, and duty officer from Crescent City Fire and Rescue, Pelican Bay State Prison Fire Department and CALFIRE each were requested and responded with an engine. A total of 18 firefighters battled the fire. After investigation of the fire scene, the cause of the fire appears accidental from a dropped cigarette between the bed and laundry basket. Repairing the damage from the fire and sprinkler flow could be as much as $50,000.

“The sprinkler system did its job today at the Surf Apartments by quickly knocking down the fire. Without the fast response of a working automatic fire sprinkler system combined with the fire department response, this situation would have likely been tragic as the mostly elderly occupant population attempted to flee from what could have been a rapidly growing fire.” Bill Gillespie, Fire Chief

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Baton Rouge, LA – Sprinkler system at nursing home controls fire caused by air conditioning unit

The Baton Rouge Fire Department responded to a local nursing home early Saturday morning.

After arriving at the Sterling Place Nursing Home, BRFD says “they were directed to the second floor of the building where a window air condition unit was on fire.”

A sprinkler activated in the room where the air conditioner was on fire and prevented more damage from occurring.

Eight total units, four pumpers and two ladders were required to put the fire out.

The cause of this fire was most likely a bird nest caught in the AC unit.

At the time of the fire, there were 144 people and around 20 workers residing in the nursing home.

According to the Baton Rouge Fire Department, “the second floor where the fire was is vacant, with no one living on that floor.”

That floor did sustain smoke and heavy water damage.

BRPD and EMS assisted the Baton Rouge Fire Department at the scene.

Sterling Place Nursing Home is located at 3888 North Blvd.